Day 402, 9:00 PM

Village

It took longer than they thought to navigate with nothing but the headlights of the dirtbike but eventually, they were able to find their way to the destination. They had to stop constantly to check to make sure they were going in the right direction and the only source of light they had came from Kaminari's headlight. They would stop and Jirou would hold the map over the headlight and make sure they were going in the right direction.

They drive through the woods before cutting through the trees and drive out into the street where it would be faster and less risky for them to travel. After a few minutes, they pull to a stop just outside a village.

"Here we are! Next stop: wherever this place is. So, then, how does it look?"

Jirou laughs. "Just like it was described in the fliers. Oh, this was so worth the two thousand yen tour guide."

Kaminari pretends to tip his hat towards her. "As always, do remember to give me a five-star review but I'm okay with a six-star review as well so thank you very much."

"Aww, and if this trip is worth everything, I'll even I've you a seven-star review."

"Oh please, if I get that kind of review, I can finally retire happy. Please, take all the time you need."

Jirou quickly hops off the bike, taking her backpack and ice chest with her, and moves ahead of the bike while Kaminari rotates the headlights to illuminate as much of the area as possible.

"Of all the times we could've arrived here, it was at night time," Jirou almost whies. "Man, we probably should've just... waited, ya know."

"Right."

"But, the paramedics said they needed their organs delivered as soon as possible before seven o'clock"

"True, true."

"Come on. Let's just... deliver this box of organs and this toy and then we can get out of here."

"Wait, Jirou. What... what are we supposed to do exactly?"

"The paramedics said there should be a list of instructions on the front door of the dropoff point, we'll just do whatever those instructions say."

"Okay, okay, sounds easy enough. So, uhh... what now?"

Jirou checks the address. "We look for this address. And we're using your dirtbike."

"Huh?" Kaminari tilts his head. "How can my dirtbike-"

"Your headlight, idiot!"

He looks at the headlight. "Oh, I get it. But... uhh, it's gonna be kinda awkward to uhh, you know, light up the path in front of u, ya know."

"Yeah, I guess so. But it's better than nothing. Hey, it's better than nothing, right? At least the headlight batteries aren't close to dying off, right?"

"Yeah, true." He turns the handles, sending the headlight beam flying around the village, lighting up some surfaces. The beam dances over benches, trees, trash cans, and some kind of statue in the middle of someone praying. "Alright, just, lead the way, punk rock."

"Thank you, Jamming-Yay."

Jirou grabs the handle and pulls the bike forward while Kaminari remains seated and slowly wheels the bike forward.

They stop near the front entrance and see several houses made of wood that look to have rotted for the past year or so. Jirou unholsters her knife while keeping the map tight in her hands. She looks around and tries to look for the house where the LC Paramadeics marked on her map. The house should be labeled 'Y2K'.

"Hey, like 2000," Kaminari realizes. "Like when the world entered the age of 2000, right? But, what else could it mean?"

"It doesn't matter; it's just an address." Jirou turns her attention back.

After a few minutes of walking, they stopped at a bathhouse where a body was lying against the front door, a skeleton. Jirou steps back, gulping, and clutches Kaminari's hand involuntarily.

Kaminari pats her on the back. "Hey, it's okay, it won't hurt you."

"What is this place?"

"You think... uh... there are zombies here?"

"I hope not. Keep an eye out, just in case."

Kamianri gasps and clutches her shoulder tightly. "Wait, what if... what if there's a beast here?"

"Don't," she warns, "don't even think about bringing up that idea, understand?"

"Y-yeah, yeah, got it." He wipes some of the sweat away. "Got it. Come on, let's go."

She gestures for them to walk forward.

They continue taking the path ahead of them leading them to the center of the village. They pass several more rotting wooden houses and come across several more skeletons piled up on the ground. One of the skeletons blocks their path. Kamianri pushes the bike around while Jirou steps over it.

"Uh, is it me, or does this place kinda feel haunted? Y'know, like, even before the world ended?"

Jirou looks back at the corpse. "Yeah, you're right. I'll give ya that. It does feel... kinda spooky."

Kaminari does a 360 scan of the area and feels his heart race. "Come on, Jirou, let's just hurry up; I don't like being out here at night. Come on, let's just... hurry."

"Right. Hold on a sec." She hands Kaminari the map before looking at one of the skeletons. "Give me some light here."

Kaminari does a U-turn and shines the headlight on her.

Jirou searches through the clothes still attached to the skeleton's skeletal body she walks over and digs through the pockets. "He might have something on him that we can use." She pulls something out. A pack of matches. She rips one off and scratches it, sparking a flame. "Yes, good." She slowly stands up and blows out the match.

"Those matches aren't going to last long."

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious, Jamming-Yay." Her eyes land on the skeleton once more.

Seeing no other choice, she quickly removes a femur from the skeleton before ripping off a piece of its shirt. She wraps the shirt tightly around one end of the femur before using the match to light it up to create a makeshift torch.

"Wow," Kaminari chuckles, "talk about donating your body to science."

"That was a horrible one-liner." She sighs softly when the embers of the flame warm her up and the sigh is enough to make Kaminari stop and lean over just to feel the warmth.

"Ahh, so nice."

"See, now we both got light. Come on, let's go."

"What about my bike?"

"What about it?"

"Well, if we have the torch, can we leave my bike here? I mean, every second the engine is on, the more gas we burn so... can I leave it off to the side? You know, and... uh... come into the light?"

She chuckles. "And here I was thinking you wouldn't want to be separated from your bike for another second."

"I don't want to leave my sweet Suzy but we should try to conserve as much gas as possible."

She rolls her eyes. "Yeah, sure. Put it somewhere you won't lose it. And if you're getting within two inches of my body, the least you can do is carry the heavy stuff."

"Ma'am, yes, ma'am."

"And don't ever call me 'ma'am'."

"No, the expression is supposed to be 'don't call me Shirley'."

"Denki..."

His eyes widen in fear. "Okay, okay, I'm off."

Kaminari carefully wheels his dirtbike over to a nearby house and sets it against the side. He turns off the bike. Jirou helps guide him with the torch. After he parks the bike, he quickly stands beside her, practically joining her to the hip, almost wrapping his arms around her like a scared child clinging to its mother.

Jirou groans and rolls her eyes. "Scaredy cat."

'Easy to say that when you have a torch and I have nothing." Kaminari removes her backpack and throws it on his back while also taking the ice chest from her hand and holding it himself.

Stepping forward, they step into a small puddle of blood they didn't see until their shoes already made contact and they wiped their soles against the dirt.

"Good thing they weren't limited editions," Kaminari scoffs.

Kaminari tried to zero in on anything that might be trying to surround them but with how dark it was and his vision conflicting with the light from the torch and darkness around him, it was hard for him to see in the dark.

They stumble across another skeleton. Jirou hands the torch to Kaminari before making another torch with a femur and shirt. Instead of using the matches, she lights it using the previous torch. Now that both were armed with a torch, both teenagers sighed in relief.

"There, now you don't have to cling to me like a needy child."

"That hurts my heart, Jirou, that really, really hurts."

"Fine by me, Dunce Face."

Pressing on, they reach the center of the village where a large fountain rests at the center surrounded by tall statues of naked people performing erotic dances. Kaminari drools at the sight of one of the female statues before Jirou slaps him in the stomach.

"Pay attention, idiot."

Jirou stops upon seeing a house with a sign-out front that says Y2K. Unless the wooden houses in the village, this one seemed to be made of solid brick and looked big enough for at least fifteen people to sleep in. Jirou grabs the ice chest and her bag from Kaminari before heading to the door. When Kaminari follows her, she turns to him. "Wait, stay here, keep a lookout; make sure it's not a trap."

Kaminari takes one step back and nods. "Sure thing."

Jirou moves to the door and stops suddenly. She checks the address to make sure everything is in perfect order before she spots a note left taped on the front door.

She looks over the note and chuckles. A list of instructions.

'Please insert the ice chest and supplies through the doggy door. Once this happens, a green light will appear on the doorbell; this indicates the correct number and weight of supplies have been delivered and a door belonging to another house will unlock. Look for the Y4K house with the same greenlight; your supplies will be there'.

Seems simple enough. She spots the doorbell.

Jirou sees the doggy door and kneels before it. She grabs the ice chest and slowly puts her hand through, mindful of any traps that may arise from this action before snatching her hand back. She heard something metal click inside and figured it must've been some sort of scale to determine the weight of an item. She reaches into her backpack grabs the Gung Ho Glitter Squad 10 toy and inserts it through the doggy door.

Click.

The doorbell makes a soft dinging sound as it turns green and Jirou laughs. As she stands up and prepares to walk back, a noise coming from behind the door makes her freeze.

"Get the hell out of here."

"Alright Johnny, but what about my money?"

Jirou narrows her eyes and puts her ear to the door.

"What money?"

"Acey said you had some dough for me."

"That a fact? How much do I owe ya?"

"Acey said ten percent."

"Too bad Acey ain't in charge no more."

"What do you mean?"

"He's upstairs, taking a bath. He'll call you when he gets out."

What? Money, bath? Is someone in there? Who are these people? Jirou furrows her brows before looking back at Kaminari, who remains where he standing while doing 360 scans of the village around him.

"Hey, let me tell you what I'm going to give you, Snakes."

Jirou turns back to the door. Snakes? Acey? Johnny?

"I'm going to give you to the count of ten to get your ugly, yellow, no-good keister off my property before I pump your guts full of lead."

Jirou's eyes widen and she slowly pulls her head from the door. Oh shit, he's got a gun, he's got a fucking gun.

"Alright Johnny, I'm sorry, I'm going."

"One, two, ten!"

BAMBAMBAMBAMBAM!

Jirou nearly leaps out of her skin as gunshots fill the air through the doggy door. She stumbles back and falls flat on her ass. She picks up the torch before running back. The sound of the person laughing inside makes her run faster as she grabs a confused Kaminari by the shoulder and yanks him forward. "Come on," she yells. "Come on!"

They run until the house is out of sight and the gunfire finally ceases.

Once the noise dies down, the doggy door opens and a survivor with a maniacal grin and sadistic glare named Sama peeks his head through and laughs.

He mouths the last words of the movie he's playing. "Keep the change, ya filthy animal."

The duo continues running for about thirty seconds before taking cover behind a wooden house. Jirou pulls him down to a kneeling position just in case.

Jirou puts a hand to her heart. "Holy shit, there was someone in there!"

"What, who?"

"I don't know. Three guys at least. There was a Johnny, an Acey, and a Snakes. They were talking about money, they were arguing, and one of them got their guts pumped full of lead."

"Jesus Christ. What happened? Did they see you?"

"I don't think so. I... dropped the ice chest and the toy through the doggy door and then that's when the arguing started."

Kaminari looks confused before stroking his chin. "What were they arguing about again?"

"Money, something to do with money?"

"What kind of money."

"He could've been sarcastically. He said money then called it dough so maybe it was some other kind of currency. Maybe it was... medicine or..."

"Are those the clients?"

"I don't know; maybe."

"Come on, let's get out of here."

When Kaminari tries to get up, Jirou grabs his hand. She gently pulls him down.

"What's wrong, Jirou?"

"Collateral, Kaminari. Remember, our friends are collateral. We said that we would deliver the organs and the toy and then get the supplies back to the paramedics, that's what we said. They said that we need to get the organs to the buyer by seven o'clock in the morning and..."

"We got plenty of time to spare."

"And then we gotta get the supplies back."

"What, we're staying? Are you serious? What about the guy with the gun?!"

"We'll deal with him later. Anyway, we delivered the stuff; now we just gotta get the paramedics their supplies and then we leave. Come on."

"Where are their supplies?"

"In a house marked Y4K. It should have a green doorbell. We find it, get the supplies, come out, then we can leave as soon as possible. Come on, let's just hurry up, get the supplies, and get out of here."

Kaminari looked at her like she was crazy before clenching his knuckles. "Okay. Okay, sure. But, the first sign of trouble, we bail, okay?"

Jirou nods earnestly. "Yeah, no problem."

"Seriously, if one of those guys was willing to blow away one of their own with a machine gun, then we need to be careful of them."

He pauses to think for a moment. "Acey, Snakes, and Johnny. Those are American names. Are the clients American?"

Jirou takes a moment to ponder. "They had Japanese voices. And their dialect; too native to sound foreign."

"Acey, Snakes, and Johnny," Kaminari repeats. "Acey, Snakes, Johnny. Huh, why Western names of all names?"

"Doesn't matter."

"Okay." He gulps before clearing his throat. "I think I'll go first this time."

"Right behind you."

"Eating my dust, as always, punk rock, girl."

"Don't push your luck, Pikachu."

Kaminari steps forward this time and leads Jirou around. They continued to hide behind houses just in case the survivor who blew the other survivor away was outside searching the area. They then spend the next five minutes looking around for a house with a green light on the doorbell. They checked out about three houses already and all of them were deadends.

They head deeper into the village around the back area and stop upon seeing a massive house. Jirou marches forward first to look for the Y4K sign and pauses.

'Y4K' she read. We're here, we're finally here.

"This is it," she says with relief. "The building."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. Y4K, just like the note said."

"The same note attached to the door where the survivor shot up the other survivor?"

"Yes."

"Okay, just making sure."

The house before them was a two-story house that looked big enough to hold thirty people. After her eyes adjust only slightly, she can make out more features of the house, namely that it isn't a residential house but something like a monastery. She checked the sign again to see what this house was exactly.

Yes, a monastery. It's some kind of... Buddhist monastery? Huh, a Buddhist temple... all the way out here?"

The monastery is two stories tall, and overgrown with nature, yet a path of pebblestones remained for any visitors who stepped through. A body in a monk outfit lies next to the door, leaning on the handle, and just above its skull is a green light of some kind sticking to the wall. Before Jirou could investigate, she decided to look around the other side of the temple just in case. Though her torch illuminates the immediate area around them, she can make out more features of the monastery. For example, several windows on the second floor remain open for anyone to climb in and the Japanese flag remains floating off the wall. Not only that but at the very top of the monastery was another Japanese flag.

She stops when she gets to the other end of the building and finds a Buddhist statue. She positions herself in front of the statue before reaching out and touching it with her free hand. Her fingers slide over the muck and grime caked to the statue but she refrains from revolting in disgust. She wipes some of the dirt off the eyes of the statue with her thumb before looking the thing in the eyes.

Man, we could really use someone like you to give us faith.

She taps the forehead of the statue for good luck before rounding the corner to meet with Kaminari again.

Kaminari is already at the front door looking at the glowing green doorbell and chuckles like a toddler. "Man, look at this place. You know, in this kind of light, this place actually looks like a nice pace for a little... romantic hookup."

She shakes her head like a disappointed mother. "Honestly, Denki, you seriously need to reevaluate your standards."

"I have perfectly fine, standards, thank you very much."

"You are not welcome."

"Nah, you didn't have to say 'you're welcome', Jirou, I know I already am welcome."

"Who told you you had good standards? Oh wait, let me guess, our friendly five-hundred-feet-away-from-the-neighborhood Mineta?"

"Hey says the Christian girls are always the best. It's not a Christian place but still, close enough."

"Buddhism and Christianity are nothing alike."

"Eh, tomato, tomato, right?"

"More like tomato, cow."

"I like cows. You know, because steak comes from cows. They're delicious. Like girls would be if they were in this monastery with me."

"If you think you're going to make out with me in a monastery, think away, Dunce Face."

"Yeah, you're right; I should re-think my priorities. Hey, how about a church?"

"That's even worse. I'm not a big religious figure but making out in a house of God... have some standards."

"But Christian girls are always the best... Jirou," he smiles mischievously.

She glares at him. "Are you done yet?"

Kaminari unholsters a knife. "Don't worry; I'm done. And to show you how done I am, I'll go first." He waits for Jirou to stand back before carefully sliding the door open and taking the first step into the meditating building, where he leaves his first footprint in this dust cloud of a carpet. "Hello, monastery."

With Kuroiro

If it had been any other day that Kuroiro had been told that he would be spying on Komori through a window, he would've called the speaker crazy while secretly hoping it would be true. But this... this was not what he expected.

After climbing halfway up another tree to get a good look at the emergency medical center, Kuroiro manages to get a good look at Komori as she sits down in a chair with her hands digesting uncomfortably in her lap.

Kuroiro hides in the shadows and pulls up his black mask matching the color of his skin, making him feel like a ninja. He had been up in these trees, watching, and waiting, for the last three to four hours or so, and though his stamina was slowly depleting, he wasn't going to give up. He had to make sure Komori and his friends were okay but he knew deep down in his heart, that he cared more for Komori's sake than the others even so, he would still keep a lookout for all three of his friends while his other two friends make the rest of the trip.

Unfortunately, sleep was starting to creep up on him, just when he finally found the best spot to lie down in the tree. His eyelids become too heavy for him to keep open and he falls into the branches. His body stops between two branches that slowly begin to bend under his weight as several zombies limp forward below.