*Prances past with the new chapter*

"Jesus Christ, you look like you've been through hell. Where're the others?"

"Didn't make it."

"Didn't make it? Wait, where's J-"

"He didn't make it, either. We came across one of 'em, and shit went down when one of the idiots fired a shot. Now we're down to just us four."

"Damn... Did the kid get bitten or somethin'?"

"Yeah. Had to put him out of his misery myself. Sorry 'bout that, by the way."

"It's fine. Let's just keep going - bound to find a way outta here soon, judging by the amount of helicopters coming in and out."

"And that's the story so far," Roberto finished. There was silence on the other end (as well as within the group, aside from Aria's bathtub punching), until finally one of the people with Daniel spoke up.

"I'm Colonel Edeson," a British woman said confidently. "Truly, I'm sorry for your losses, but right now we have to shift your focus onto the bigger problems at hand - namely finding medicine for your friend. From what Doctor Lambert has told us, and from your description of her recent behaviour, it's going to be a difficult task to manage. You said you arrived in a delivery truck, correct?"

Mei leaned forward, eyes narrowed. "Yeah, but I doubt she'd be all fuckin' for getting in it with us."

"Indeed. Which is why you need to come up with a trick. You said she's been hallucinating, right? About your two deceased members?"

"Yeah, Sora and Iza. She said she was seeing them whenever we stopped for a break," Freddy told her.

"Well, then, you need to go along with her hallucinations. I know it'll have a negative impact on her state of mind, Doctor Lambert," Edeson added hastily. "But right now it's the only option the group has until we can get her here. The other problem is finding more survivors. Who knows how many more are out there, struggling much like yourselves. Someone might be useful to the research Professor Azuma is conducting here."

Edeson continued on with her plan, asking the opinions of a man named Carver and another woman named Iris. It was soon devised that the group would pretend Sora and Iza were with them, and as much as it pained them to do so, they had to pretend neither of the girls had died. It was going to be a challenge for them, but they reluctantly agreed and hung up soon after. As they all let out collective breaths of frustration, they cast their eyes toward the door - only to find the very girl they were to trick, watching them with a glare.

After a few minutes of stunned silence, Aria turned away with a huff and made her way back to the bathroom. She didn't resume her punches to the bathtub this time.

To say the next three hours were a challenge was an understatement. They tried many attempts to try and get Aria to leave the bathroom ("Aria, I need to go to the bathroom." "Hey, we've got a really shitty lunch cooking. You want in?" "Sora and Iza are waiting in the living room for us.") but all ended in the same way: She'd resume hitting the bathtub and would refuse to let them in.

By the time sundown arrived they were at a loss for what to do next. Wendy was still doing her best to find the right medication needed for Aria, but her memory was failing her. The suggestion Kit had thrown out seemed like the best option, but she couldn't remember the proper name for what they'd needed. The sun had fully set, and the group was no different from twenty-four hours earlier. Roberto decided they'd spend one more night in the house, maybe find some more time to lure Aria out of the bathroom; for now, though, they needed sleep.

Sleep never came.

Curiosity was tugging at them, keeping them awake as they watched the phone on the coffee table. Everyone was sitting in a circle around the piece of furniture, watching the device as though waiting for a sound to come from it. They were waiting for any sign that they would be leaving soon, no matter how small that chance of freedom was.

When it never rang, let alone released the ping of a message, Kit picked up the phone and unlocked it. She searched through the gallery, having remembered watching Iza unlock it back at the gas station, and searched for the small icon that read Gallery. Upon finding it, she searched through the videos and found one in particular that everyone needed to hear at that moment. Little to no sound came out, however, and it took a moment of figuring out the buttons on the side of the device before finally the first sentence rang out and fell upon their ears.

"My name is Aria Lambert. I know this is going to sound cliché and kind of like I am Legend, but I am one of the survivors in Japan."

For a moment everything felt calm.

For a moment everyone was able to trick themselves into thinking they were back at day one, when Aria was fine and Alec and Jun never left and Sora and Iza never died.

They were roused the next morning by an unceremonious, "Wake up!"

Half of them would've been lying if they'd said they weren't expecting it to be Aria waking them up; half of them looked around hopefully, barely hiding their anticipation in seeing Aria on what would've passed for a "good day".

They were let down when they caught sight of the trio standing by the couch, pointing to Roberto (who was closest) with a machete and a baseball bat between the three of them. The youngest appeared around eight or so, the eldest no older than Roberto.

"Who-"

"What are you guys still doing here?" the eldest demanding. He was holding the machete, a genuinely concerned look in his eyes. The middle child, most likely thirteen or fourteen, protested that they didn't have time to worry about other people. The eldest silenced her and repeated, "Why haven't you started moving yet?"

Everyone was dumbfounded. It was Freddy who spoke up and asked what was going on. "Why should we be moving?" he asked. He then quickly added, "I'm Freddy, by the way."

"Hui," the older boy said. "I take it you were an exchange student, too?"

"Sort of. I'm from America."

"China. The girls are Rin and Emi - Emi being the older one." Hui paused and let out a breath, then continued, "You should be running because there's a massive hoard of blind zombies shuffling their way over, and they're gonna be wandering without a cause until they find something warm they can sink their teeth into."

Freddy leaned toward Kit, who translated the gist of the warning under her breath, and then looked to Roberto and Mei for guidance. Whether or not they liked it, they were going to have to take charge of their broken family until Aria was medicated.

"One of our members," Wendy jumped is, "is sick. Schizophrenia. We don't have the medicine for it, though, and we can't quite get her to come out of the bathroom. We don't want to use her hallucinations against her, though, and we can't move without her because-"

Emi was quick to cut her off with a loud whine to Hui, gesturing to the group with her bat as Rin (who bore quite a resemblance to her) clutched the older girl's skirt tighter. "Hui, we need to move!" she hassled.

"Emi, please," Hui said. He did his best to keep his tone even. "You promised you'd help me assist others - that was what we agreed upon when you decided to stay with me."

An ashamed expression crossed Emi's face, but it was quickly replaced when her light grey eyes flashed with determination. "I just want to keep Rin safe."

Hui understood, but turned his attention to the larger group in a clear gesture that said, Leave if you want to. I have a job to do.

The group informed Hui of their situation, of who they'd gotten in contact with, and just who Aria was hallucinating about. Emi and Rin hadn't left by the time an hour had passed, and Hui had begun to explain that they'd managed to raid a pharmacy in case they arrived at the same situation with Rin's diabetes, and that they might've had something from the plethora of random pills they'd swiped for Aria to take. All that needed to be done was working out which pills were the right ones, and how they'd get Aria to take them willingly.

The bag that was previously strapped across Emi's torso was quickly emptied onto the carpet floor. The group set to work, searching around for one word Kit had mentioned earlier: Antipsychotic. If they could make a start there, they'd get out before the apparent hoard found them.

It was a good way to get to know about Hui and Emi and Rin. Emi and Rin, with matching grey eyes and long brown curls, were sisters who'd previously lost their parents during the first week. They'd been given Rin's insulin, told to get out of the car and run, and were found again by Hui just days later, thankful to find that he was on his way to a pharmacy to take what was left in the storage room. They looked similar in their clothing, as well - Emi was dressed in a long black skirt, barefoot, and with a plain green tee; Rin was dressed in a dark floral dress with a pair of worn out sandals shielding her feet. Hui, on the other hand, had a different story.

He'd been fed up with his host family, requesting that he be sent to a different house, and was virtually ready to leave for the airport for the first plane back to Beijing. The Outbreak started while he was hailing a taxi, and he'd been quick to run and help as many people as he could before finding Emi and Rin. Hui was as tall as Roberto, with black hair long enough to tie into a ponytail, the parts unable to stay tied back framing his lightly tanned face. His eyes were a dark brown, almost black, and he was wearing as much customised armour made from old phone books and duct tape. Clearly he'd done his research on surviving the zombie apocalypse, the group agreed.

It had taken a while, but eventually they found the closest thing they could to a certain medication - one Wendy pointed to in excitement when she recognised the word from books Kozan had brought home for her to read years earlier. Trifluoperazine, it read. As quickly as they could urge him to, Hui popped out two of the cream-coloured pills from their wrapping and hurried for the bathroom. The group, caught in their momentary celebration, was quick to remember exactly what the older boy was walking into.

To their surprise, however, he walked out empty-handed a mere ten minutes later, grinning in triumph.

It seemed that Hui had no qualms with pretending to see something the other girl knew didn't exist.

The trio were thanked by everyone, even Mei, as they handed the boxes over to the group. They kept a few for themselves, saying that they had a chance of seeing other sufferers of schizophrenia in their travels.

Hui, Emi, and Rin left as quickly as they'd came in. Roberto took charge of giving Aria the medication the second time that day. She'd been sitting in the shower, water running as she rocked back and forth in her now soaked clothes. She was obedient when Roberto told her quietly that she needed to take another dose for the day.

They weren't sure how long it would take the medication to take effect, nor what side effects she would exhibit. All that mattered was that they got on the road fast and didn't waste precious time running from the horde.

The delivery truck was left behind due to the noise it would make. Everyone aside from Aria was armed and ready to fight, and they began their trek through the dim light of the evening.

Never had they thought running would turn against them so quickly.

Just the next update, and then the epilogue, guys~

You excited? I sure am!

Anyway, apologies for the shortish chapter, but I hope it was enjoyable ^.^ Till the next chapter~