Alrighty, guys, we're almost at the finale. Just this chapter and the next before Conflict is over, and then the fun starts happening.

Aria would've liked to say that it was the sound of everyone's voices downstairs that woke her up, but sadly such a luxury didn't exist in the bathroom of the new house. No, it was the fact that Mei decided ten o'clock was the perfect time to aim a forceful kick to the older girl's stomach with a loud, "Get the fuck off me, Schizo!"

It barely got better as the morning progressed. The whole group was called down to the dining room for an impromptu meeting (which, unfortunately, included the Grey Coats). The group was divided between the two sides of the room, the Grey Coats, Alec, and Jun on one side with everyone else on the other. There was silence for a good ten minutes, Mei constantly glaring at each member with malice and spite. After the eleventh minute, finally one of them spoke up.

"What's this meeting about?" Roberto asked, eying Alec suspiciously. Tatsuya went to answer, but a literal hiss came from Mei and Aria all at once. The leader immediately shut up, a somewhat frightened look on his face as he sat back in his seat.

"Some serious decisions are being made," Alec said. He leaned back in his seat and glanced toward the Grey Coats, frowning to himself. "I'm sure you remember what Mei had said about me dropping you when a better group came along. Well… These guys are a better group."

"You fucking ass," Mei snarled.

Alec threw his hands up and grinned. "Easy there, Mei," he laughed. "Pretty sure we all know how you feel regardless of your commentary."

"Fuck you."

"Yeah, yeah; we get it. You're angry."

Kit spoke up, rather confidently and expression full of disappointment. "She's not the only one," she growled. "What are we going to do without you?"

The older boy shrugged and scoffed. "I dunno - ask the Group Mother. That's what she's there for."

Aiko let out a confused sound, pushing raven locks behind her ear. "Group Mother…?"

Aria was quick to raise her hand. "Right here, bitch."

Almost immediately, Aiko shrank away and hid behind Shizuo. It seemed that the fact that Aria was group mother had escaped the group, but not the fact that she was willing to kill someone for touching her "babies".

Good.

"Do whatever you want, Alec," Aria said, remembering their little talk prior to finding the house - the van, even. "Just know that you'll have a hard time finding us again."

"If you're stupid enough to try," Mei added, glaring daggers at the boy. She was promptly ignored.

"Just know we're not going to welcome you with open arms if you come crying to us." Alec nodded in understanding, and Aria was quick to turn the attention to another member of the group. "Jun. What the fuck, dude?"

Jun jumped and frowned, sighing to himself in exasperation. "I'm going with Alec," he said simply. "I don't want to be in the group anymore, and the Grey Coats seem safe."

Right. Safe. That was a funny joke.

"Seriously, Jun," Aria pressed. "Why?"

There was a stretch of silence that followed, Jun nervously fiddling with the apron of his uniform. Roberto had said he'd come from a restaurant after the Outbreak happened. Maybe he worked there as a chef? Aria had never bothered to ask. "I don't know if you've noticed, but I'm no good around girls."

"Define 'no good'."

"Afraid."

A snort of a laugh came from Mei. Sora was quick to kick her ankle to shut her up.

"Afraid?" Jun nodded. Aria sighed. "Fine. Go with Alec and revel in the testosterone while we helpless little girls hang out with the flirt and the thinker. We don't need the tank and the cook."

No one dared to say anything else after, deciding to leave the ball in Alec's court as the time ticked by. The Grey Coats were fidgety, Aria noticed; that probably meant they never stayed in the same spot for more than five minutes, which would leave them at somewhat of a disadvantage in regards to sitting still to avoid the damn zombies outside.

And that idiot Alec was going with them? Aria could've smacked him upside the head for this!

"What time do you leave?" she asked, filling the silence after another two minutes. "How much longer are we graced by your oh-so-wonderful presence?"

"You'll be rid of m- Us soon. We don't plan on staying for longer than the time we've already spent here."

"Good fucking riddance," Mei spat. She made a move to stand, but decided where she was sitting was a better alternative to getting out of her chair for the gang. "I'm abso-fucking-lutely done with all of you fucknuggets. Now, why don't you all get your shit ready and go on your merry little fucking way, like the Schizo said, and ski-fucking-daddle out of our sights before I decapitate someone."

To everyone's surprise, Sora, Iza, and Wendy nodded in agreement. Tatsuya sighed in exasperation, looking to the group for confirmation that he could speak. When neither of the older girls hissed at him, he cast his gaze to his group and ordered them to get their things ready. They left the room in a hurry, taking their weapons with them (about three people let out relieved breaths at that), and soon enough they were saying their goodbyes to Alec and Jun.

Well. More Jun than Alec.

Roberto walked Jun to the door while Alec spoke with Iza briefly, and then the two were leaving with the Grey Coats as the others watched in disdain. It was a rather uneventful goodbye, and it was one none of them hoped they'd have to go through again.

Aria closed the door behind her, locking it, and turned to the slowly-dispersing group with a sigh. It looked like she was on lunch duty today.

The call arrived at around noon, right in the middle of their lunch. They were munching away on the rest of the pasta (a rather large pot of it) mixed with some just-a-day-over cheese. Aria was about to get her second bowl when she'd felt the vibration in her pocket, and she answered it immediately when she saw Daniel's number on the screen. She put it on loudspeaker, introducing everyone to him, and listening to his message. By the time he'd hung up, everyone was jumping for joy and hugging each other out of relief.

A helicopter was close to their location. They only had to get to the nearby park and they were free of their Hell.

Even Mei was laughing and getting in on the touchy-feely action.

They prepared their things, packing the last of their pasta in separate bags to take, and raided the closets for clothes that might fit them. They packed their new clothes into the bottom of their bags, proud of how much was of use to them, and started planning their way to the park nearby. Aria was dividing the bottles of water between the group in the kitchen, busily making sure there was plenty of ice in each drink, when she was approached by Freddy.

"Hey," she said. She wasn't too sure what to say, given the situation. Alec and Jun had just left, meaning Freddy and Roberto were the only boys in the group; and now with the helicopter on the way and Alec and Jun gone, they weren't leaving as a whole group like they'd started. "What's up?"

Freddy gave her a small smile and sat on one of the chairs by the bench, fiddling with his bag. "Thanks for, ah, sticking with us," he said. "We'd probably all be dead if we'd left at some point, so thanks for not throwing in the towel and going off on your own. We kinda needed you, if that much wasn't obvious."

Aria shrugged. "It's the Group Mother's job to look after her babies, so I'm doing it. Plus," she added, "I'm not so heartless that I'd leave a bunch of people to die when I have a way out."

There was a short silence that followed, but it was quickly filled with a small, "Thank you," before Freddy stood up, took his bottle from Aria, and went to help the others. She watched him leave, noting that they'd never really had many interactions like that before. She wondered if they would ever have small talks like that ever again after the helicopter arrived, but doubted it to a point. Everyone had their own families to worry about, and Aria had a lot of things to talk to Daniel about.

There was still time for the group to get ready, and Aria was pretty much done with her things. With a shrug to herself, she pulled her phone from her pocket and opened the camera, switching it to the video function.

"Whatever day it is - I lost count a while ago - it's a good day. We just got a call from Daniel, and we're getting picked up in..." She checked the time on the clock above her. "Two hours. Right now we're packing our things - spare clothes, pasta, water. We should be ready soon. Hopefully get to the park within the hour and set up in one of the trees to hide the rest of the time out. It should work, since Al-"

She cut herself off, remembering the events of the morning, and slowly felt a scowl creep onto her face. "Alec and Jun left us. Went with another group." She squeezed the bridge of her nose, sighing in exasperation. "Fucking hell."

A silence settled for a while, just filled with her cursing to herself and the click ticking on the wall. Aria was left to her thoughts for just a few seconds, her mind racing with the fact that Alec and Jun might not get out of Tokonosu at all.

That kinda sucked.

Aria looked to the camera again, ready to speak, when she heard a small whisper from the other side of the room. She froze, looking around quickly, but heard nothing in the silence. She must've been imagining things. She turned her attention back to the phone, began to talk about her episode from the previous morning, when she heard it again. This time, it was a full sentence.

What are you doing, Carrot?

Aria couldn't quite place the voice, but she was sure it was going to be someone she knew once again.

Taking in a deep breath, she continued on with her recount. She only stopped once, and that was when she heard the squelch of a bloody body colliding with tile flooring. Aria sucked in a breath, panicking slightly, and wondered if maybe one of the undead had gotten inside. She glanced over, holding in her breath, and let out a strangled sigh when she saw nothing in the kitchen with her. She was imagining things, she told herself.

She stopped telling herself that when she heard the ragged breath from her other side.

Aria didn't dare turn around. She wasn't going to face whatever was behind her, and she wasn't going to listen to the breaths it let out every second or so. Instead, she ended her video, picked herself up off of the ground, and grabbed her bag and the water bottles. She kept herself busy, handing them out, and finally came to a stop at the front door and waited patiently for everyone to join her. It took about twenty minutes, their time left to an hour and a half, and soon enough they were out the front door and beginning their journey to the park.

"I was expecting more zombies to be after us," Iza noted, sticking close to Mei as the group travelled cautiously. They had one hour left until the helicopter arrived, and they were about halfway to the park. Aria had her sword at the ready, finding herself uncomfortable with the added silence to the group. She was so used to those two extra pairs of footsteps, and now without hearing Alec guide them she felt somewhat blind.

The thought reminded her of Jun, who probably would've sassed her on the remark.

"Yeah," Mei said. "It's a little boring without the fuckers here to bash the shit out of."

"Don't you think you should be wishing they didn't show up?" Freddy pointed out. "Not the other way around?"

Mei sneered. "Shut up, Short Round."

"Guys, stop it," Aria commanded. "We need to be quiet so we can get there in one piece."

"Yeah, yeah." Mei waved her off, but seemed to be more obedient this time around. "I hear you, Schizo, no need to fuckin' remind me."

Aria smirked to herself, glad for the cooperation, and turned back to the path ahead. They managed to cover more ground, the park coming into view after a good forty minutes of slow walking, and finally they arrived with twenty minutes to spare.

They each picked a tree, climbing up and getting comfortable, and Aria shot off a quick message to Daniel to say they were at the location. The sound of helicopter blades in the distance caught their attention. Soon they could make out the shape of it, and began descending the trees with hopeful expressions.

The helicopter landed, blades still rotating rather loudly, and for a moment Aria panicked when she heard the sounds of zombies in the distance. They must've been the faster ones, as the raspy screech she heard sent a chill down her spine - unlike the wheezed breathing of the slow ones. She counted the group as they climbed down the trees, letting out a breath as the shouldered their bags, and then they began to pair up as they moved toward the helicopter.

Freddy and Kit were just about to get on when Aria heard it more clearly. Kit was pretty much ready to take a seat when Aria saw the first four zombies running toward the helicopter, practically screaming to Freddy, "Freddy, get her out of there!"

Within the time it took for the zombies to latch onto the tail of the helicopter, Kit was out of her seat, bounding for Freddy, and dashing back to the group with him close behind. Three more zombies jumped onto the helicopter, screeching, until finally the heavy thing began to sway erratically. The group started to run as the helicopter's blades began to slice into the ground, and soon enough they were screaming as they ran for their lives.

Finally, after what felt like a lifetime, the helicopter broke apart.

Pieces of it flew in every direction, a small piece of blade whizzing past Iza's head. Aria pulled Wendy along with her, scooping the smaller girl into her arms, and sped as fast as she could for the gates to the park. Another piece flew out toward them, this time colliding with something solid. The sounds of zombies were no more, now just the sound of skin being punctured filling the air.

Finally they made it out of the park, Aria putting Wendy on the ground as she counted their group. Iza, Freddy, Mei, Roberto, Wendy, Kit, herself...

Wait.

Where was Sora?

As soon as the blaze from the helicopter went down, Aria dropped her bag and dashed back into the park, shrieking the younger girl's name.

Any and all reviews at this point with even a trace of "why would you do that" will be replied with only ominous laughter.

Hope y'all enjoyed~ Tune in to find out where Sora is *Smirks*