The morning sun warmed Ai's face. A yawn came from him as he gave a small stretch almost like a cat basking in the sun. If only he was that carefree. Are animals infected? Can they turn? Are any of the little nekos now flesh hungry beasts? These were the thoughts that kept him awake. Ai had decided he would stay up and keep watch. He only got about an hours rest. To be fair, if anything had happened, he could likely scream the loudest.

The pale male had sat with his back to the wall, lost in thought for some time. His hand fidgeted with his beloved gun which had turned out to be a dud. Seems too him that Bryan might be able to fix it but there would be a time and a place...

His long lilac nails ran up and down the handle of the gun drawing little patterns, blankly staring at the handle. How long could he live like this? Off the kindness of strangers? He had always been a bit of burden. As a kid he could never fight his own fights. 'But you aren't a fighter!' That's what she always said... “Tch...heheh.” A small giggle came from his lips, trying to hold back a laugh as he remembered her determination as she said those words. Who ever heard of a guy getting saved by his female friend? Sure, not that uncommon, but damn, with a stick she could hand you your ass on a plate.

His mind continued to run wild with fleeting memories and his mouth too began to run wild. “Boku wa naze, kaze no you ni... ” His voice soon faded to a light hum, subconsciously singing his fears away. He could feel his eyes begin to grow bags beneath the make-up. Thank Kami that no one would see him in this state. The fans would be so disillusioned by the mess they saw before them.

He noticed movement in the room. Had he been too loud? No doubt he had woken the other survivors. 'Damn it, Ai! Get your act together!' Throwing his hood up over his head, he dragged his tired body to his feet. With a wobble he made his way too the bathroom. Wobble. Wobble.

'WHACK'

Face first on the floor, room spinning. His mouth opened and closed like a fish out of water. Screams for help and pleas of aid were nothing more than silent calls for help. His world was going dark fast and Ai couldn't make a noise. Trying to force himself up, Ai could only managed to prop himself up on all fours before meeting the ground again. 'Itai...'

The darkness surrounded Ai.

What could have been days was only about forty minutes. Nothing more than fatigue taking over. Sure, there was nothing wrong with that. He had climbed buildings and ran a marathon.

Ai took a moment to wash his face. After reapplying some of his make up he was almost ready to return to the main room. But first? A snack. Going into his messengers bag, Ai pulled out some animal crackers. “I could kill for craff...” He mumbled to himself as he stuffed his face on the biscuits.

As he rejoined the group, he realised that everyone was up by now. How long was he out for? Irena seemed to be gone too. Aubrey was holding a gun... Well. At least they were a bit better prepared. “Ohai~~....” He stopped himself. Ian was rather good at Japanese but he didn't know about the rest. “Ahem. Good morning! How are you arl today?”

With a few shaky steps, Ai approached the three by the door. “So... I take it... We... We go hunting?” He said rather awkwardly pointing to Aubreys gun. “That leminds me! Suit! Do you... Fix this? Please?” He said as he pulled out the Snub nosed colt. (With ivory handle. Real. Take notice of the style.) He passed it to Bryan. 'I hope he can fix it... I need something to keep myself alive but... I wanna try this gun...' He couldn't help it. Something annoyed him about owning a gun he had never fired and the damn things jammed. He fiddled with his lilac locks as he looked at Bryan with some hope.

At this point Ai was ready to just see what the day would have for the group. He would try his best for them. They had to survive... They just had to.

"Ret us do our best!"

Reality dictated that, at some point, this would get better. That's how it always worked. For now, he would just have to keep enduring the cold, harsh stares of Ian. He could understand the man's point-of-view but those judging eyes were really starting to get to him. Was he really being that much of a flirt? If so, was he always like this? Was it why women were so quick to offer up their number in a bar? Was he... flirting without even knowing it?

Sighing, he turned his gaze back to the siblings before nodding. Yes, it was time they leave. Just then, the odd man they met came up to them. He spoke a language unknown to Bryan. It was hardly classified as broken English. It was more like... a poor man's attempt at humoring educated Americans. Wait, did Ian and Aubrey ever attend college? Blinking, he wondered if that was what gave them the edge they had went engaging Maki Ai.

Presenting him a gun, Bryan smirked. "As a Wesson, it is my duty to fix guns. If I couldn't, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't be head of the Smith and Wesson Innovation Department."

The gun was absolutely gorgeous, but Bryan had come to learn a thing or two about pretty faces. They were just that -- pretty. The gun's design was rather poor, this he knew for a fact. Granted, that didn't mean he couldn't fix it.

"Why don't you two pack bag -- seven of them. Make sure each has a pair of clothes, food, and miscellaneous items that could come in handy later. If we have one bag of just food, the odds of it getting stolen increase. We need to spread out the goods to ensure our own survival." While he spoke, he fingered the gun. It felt wonderful. Really, it was a treasure to hold and feast his eyes open.

Moving toward a desk, he opened a bag at his feet and began to pull out various items. "By the way, Mister, what is your name?" Eyes never pulling from the gun, he gestured for Maki to sit or stand beside him to watch the process. "Uh," his blue glance shifted to the siblings, "give me about five minutes. That should buy you enough time to pack."

With calculated motions, he began to disassemble the gun. It looked way too easy, but in reality it was far harder than it looked. Bryan just made it simple, too simple. As the gun's innards became exposed, he began to twirl tools in and out of his hands. In about six minutes, the gun was polished to perfection and 50-percent less likely to stick.

"Afraid this is the best I can do with limited supplies." Passing it back to Maki, he forced a small grin. Honestly, if he could spend the rest of this zombie nightmare with these three, he wouldn't complain. They were oddly enjoyable. They relaxed him. They were also rather nice. Irena was really the only issue in his book, but that's because he knew nothing of her bomb-making history.

Gingerly, he pushed back from the desk and repacked the items he used. Might as well bring these along, he mused. After all, if someone pilfered the hotel, then he might not have the tools he wanted there after all.

With all the bags packed, Bryan scooped up three. He was already wearing his bag on his back so he flung one over his shoulder, draped another on his left elbow, and then put the final one in his left hand.

"Let's go," he instructed.

Down the stairs they went. By the time they were to reach the lobby, voices started to echo up the hallway. Alarmed, Bryan held up a fist to gesture a hard halt. If Irena was in trouble, a surprise ambush was the best way to snuff out those who infiltrated the lobby. Of course, if they were friendly, then an assault wasn't necessary. He would leave that up to fate, relying 100-percent on his friends and Irena's voice.

While Bryan worked away at repairing Ai's gun, Aubrey took the initiative to get started right away on packing bags - jumping on any chance to prove useful. Normally, Aubrey was the type to pawn that kind of work off on others, but living in this kind of world... people change. Or at the very least, she was making an effort to try.

Aubrey brought over a bag to Ai and offered a reassuring smile, this guy seemed just too innocent to be caught up in all this. And his way of interaction was almost childlike. Odds are she'd never guess in a million years what his actual age was, he looked like he could be even younger than Ian.

Putting on her backpack of supplies, she slung her medkit over her head and let the strap fall over her chest. She was geared and ready to go, somehow fueled by a sense of urgency, like she was pumping up for a big game.

She followed along with the group, still holding onto the gun - unaware of her awkward positioning. (Almost as awkward as the first time she tried to use chopsticks.) Sharp ears picked up unknown voices early on, but it wasn't until they hit the lobby that Aubrey caught a glimpse at an unknown face.

Maybe the average sport loving American would recognize the guy, but this girl couldn't match up a face with a sport let alone a specific team. But what she could tell was that the stranger seemed on edge, not infected, and seemingly harmless. But that kind of naivete likely wouldn't get her far so she stayed on her guard behind Bryan and Ian.

“Ohayou gozaimasu!~”

Sachiko braced herself, gripping tightly at the hilt of her sword while her wide eyes caught sight of a strangely dressed man (covered in blood, might I add) coming down swiftly on the walking corpse.

Blink. Blink, blink.

That's all she could manage to do in that moment, unsure exactly how to react to the situation at hand. Was he smiling? Wait - did he just wink at her? What on earth? The way he spoke to her gave her the heeby jeebies, why was he being so casual? Not even her own family spoke to her so casually, so having someone approach her in such a way was far from the norm. Two days ago she would have ignored a guy like this... but today...

Her hand swiftly reached out to grab hold of him by the shirt, in a way you'd normally see a bully grab hold of his target. But she didn't want his lunch money, no. She wanted to keep a hold on the only truly living being she had seen yet and get information - and without hesitation she began to spitfire questions at him in quite the desperate tone.

"Are you with anyone else?"

"Do you have a radio?"

"More importantly... do you have a clue what the hell is going on around here?!"

With every question her nose got closer and closer to his, pressing more of her weight on the toes of her shoes as her heels came more and more off the ground. She didn't have to interrogate him so, and she surely didn't have to do it in such a way, but manners - well, they were never her thing.

The woman seemed to be at a loss, but it wasn't as though he could blame her. Things had become twisted, so it was easy to get mixed up. She was probably someone who hadn't seen the worst of it just yet. Keeping his posture, as if he’d been turned to stone, Yuki remained statuesque as he allowed her to collect her thoughts. As her hand gripped his collar, Yuki took a half-step back. The step Sachiko had to take to make up for it left his forward foot just past hers. Placing his free hand on her shoulder, he shrunk back to pull her further off balance, “Hey, hey…” He mumbled softly as she fired questions his way.

Somewhere in the middle of her final question she had moved past the mental line in the sand Yuki had allowed, and his forward foot pulled back as the hand on her shoulder pushed her over it. Sweeping out her legs from under her, she released his shirt in order to catch herself. Pointing the shovel at her, his smile unwavering, he spoke up in the same cheerful tone from before, “Sorry, nee-san, I’m a little defensive about giving away my first kiss.~” Free hand covering his mouth, he rubbed his knees together and squirmed as he pretended to be embarrassed. Shrugging and turning his head away, he gave the area a quick look as he rested the weapon back on his shoulder after he was satisfied that they were not yet compromised. Sticking around much longer probably wouldn't be wise though.

“To answer your questions, I’m all alone without a radio and only a vague idea of what’s happening.” Scratching the back of his head, his expression turned to one of a light confusion, he was unsure of how to approach this next part. Staring at her as though he’d just opened up a jigsaw puzzle, he tried to piece together his next words carefully. “I've got a couple questions for you too nee-san, they’re kind of important though.” That cold, standoffish barricade of hers was no match for Yuki's warm demeanor. He wanted to help her.

Pointing to her with the shovel again, intending to keep adequate distance between them, his smile returned. “What’s your name? You're pretty enough to be an idol, but you can't be one, if you were I'd already know your name. Undiscovered talent maybe? Haha, sorry, maybe it'd be better if you answered my other question first...” Chuckling for a moment and scratching the back of his head, he sighed. Closing his eyes and taking a deep breath, once he opened them again, Yuki's chocolate orbs began to inspect the woman's body thoroughly in search of bloodstains. Establishing eye contact and locking his sights to hers after his scan, the air around him turned dangerous and his smile seemed almost as wicked as it did worried. “You haven’t been bitten, right nee-san?” Survival, that was priority one. Survive until things got better, because things would get better. They had to.

After hearing orders from Bryan, Ian quickly scanned the room for two bags and threw them over his shoulder. There was plenty of stuff left in the room Aubrey and Ian had originally settled in and there was no way he was going to leave it behind, seeing Ian had decided before getting on the plane that they weren't going to be leaving Japan, a lot of useful things and memories sat in that small room of theirs.

Aubrey had already begun packing and search around the room they were currently in, while Bryan sat down and carefully worked on a gun that seemed to belong to Maki, speaking of Maki, he was hovering around Bryan as he watched the man tinker and fix whatever was wrong with it, at least Bryan was being useful now, well at least Ian thought. "H-hey... I'll be right back! I'm going to grab a few things... after waiting a few seconds to see if anyone would object, nobody said a word, almost as if they ignored him. Regardless, Ian opened the door and lightly closed it behind him and made his way down the stairs to the floor he and his sister originally stayed at.

Ian fished around in his pockets for the key to the room, luckily he didn't drop it and found it in his back pocket. Ian opened the door to the room where it all began, without hesitation he filled the bags with shirts, socks, pants, undies, one pair of shoes some deodorant, a hair brush, shampoo, batteries, a flash light, a notebook full of drawings Ian did when he was younger, he wanted to get good at drawing but he was still practicing, along with the notebook followed a few pens and sharpies. Ian kept filling the bags until he opened one of the smaller suitcases to see a big stuffed toy staring him in the face. A toy from Ian and Aubrey's childhood, it was a big stuffed fairy looking creature with a big smile on his face that never changed. Countless times did that stuffed toy cheer Ian up when he was sad or scared when they were much younger, Every time their parents fought Ian remembers hiding with Aubrey and that stuffed fairy, that and he remembered the day when Aubrey gave Ian the happy little plush. Ian's smiled a little, there was no way he could leave this behind, as he stuffed the toy in one of the bags he zipped them both up and prepared to leave.

Before exiting the room, Ian turned around once more and looked at everything, the pulled apart suitcases, to the tv, to the beds, Ian was going to miss this place. It was the start of the twins trip to Japan and Ian will never forget it. Locking the door and putting the key back into his back pocket Ian headed towards the stairs once again back to the room Bryan, Aubrey and Maki were in. As Ian walked down the hall he swore he could hear talking on the floor below. Was Irena really talking to herself? Probably. Without thinking twice, Ian headed back to the stair case and marched his way back up to the room.

After knocking, Aubrey let Ian back into the room and from what it looked like, Bryan was finished fixing Maki's gun and everyone had a bag and looked ready to go. After all in agreement, the group left the room and back down the stairs to where Irena had been. Had everyone totally forgotten about Irena? She had no idea what was even happening! I'm sure when they walk up to her all carrying bags she's going to think the group was going to leave her behind, at least that's how Ian would see it. As the walked down the stairs, Ian hung back with Aubrey. Ian thought about it for a while and he needed to tell her the truth about this trip to Japan, after everything that's happened and the world basically in ruins it was pretty pointless now. "H-hey..." Ian started to walk side by side with Aubrey. "I feel like if I don't tell you this, it's going to bug me forever. Please don't get mad, but... taking a deep breath, Ian began to tell her the truth. "This vacation to Japan, wasn't just going to be a vacation. I was planning on letting it look like a vacation up until the last two days of our time here and I was going to tell you, but I bought us a one way ticket here. There is no way me and you could live a life back in New York like that. We both love Japan right? I figure it would have been tough at first but we would have made it! I was going to teach you Japanese, I could have gotten a job as a translator and paid for everything! I-I hope you aren't too mad at me... I was only thinking for what was best for both of us... I had packed the majority of our things which is why we had so much luggage... Ian turned his head from his sister to the floor and waited her response. That was until they got closer to the main lobby and heard an unfamilar voice. Is it someone new?

Tilly was swinging a hunk of plywood like it was a baton ather side. The streets were desolate if you didn’t consider the occasional dead body walking about. Tilly kind of liked the sight of them, dully bumbling around, until they tried to kill her, that was always her least favorite thing about them. At this moment she happened to be thinking about Giant Squid. She’d always liked Giant Squid, and she wondered if one would be able to fit on the street she was walking along. “Hmm,” she thought to herself, still twirling her plywood pal, “I wonder if they could evolve to walk on land… I wonder if theywould befriend the human race… befriend me. Soon we would be the best of friends, and we’d probably go dancing!” She pictured dressing her new, tentacle-walking friend in tap shoes and performing a wonderful number for the judges of some badly-rated television show. “Of course, we’d get a perfect score,” Tilly nodded thoughtfully, “Everyone knows giant squid are marvelous dancers. They’re time in the ocean makes them very graceful.” >>


Tilly began humming a tune thoughtfully. She walked beneath an extraordinarily decimated building, the bricks shuffling out of their spots at awkward, impossible angles. The windows hanging precariously from their frames, as if they may crash to the ground at any moment. It was the kind of building one should scurry away from hurriedly, to avoid any falling windows or bricks. There’s nothing more embarrassing than being killed by a brick during the end of the world. As she hummed pleasantly dreaming of her would-be dancing genius, however, she paid no mind to the building. Soon a moaning being from the afterlife turned out of an alley and began lazily rampaging towards Tilly. She looked up just in time to scream like a little kid, throwing her arms up in surprise. The baton-plywood went flying with an unusual amount offorce, hitting a second story window and bringing it crashing down, a shard of glass impaling Tilly’s would-be assailant through the eye. The assailant collapsed to the ground with a thump.>>


“Oh-ho-ho-ho!” Tilly laughed triumphantly, picking the plywood out of the wreckage, “That was most certainly on purpose! Good day to you, sir!” Tilly began walking away, and turned quickly to end her phrase with a vehement, “I said good day!” The silent corpse was not as amused as she was. She looked up just in time to see a well-kept building on her left. Something about it drew her in, and she turned and walked inside its doors. She looked around the open room, studying it quizzically. She heard footsteps inthe distance and froze. “I see you’ve sent your son to enact his revenge!” she called to the window-defeated corpse, “But alas! He shall find no solace in my death… I will not perish today!” She held the plywood like a sword and prepared for battle with an unknown enemy. Only she heard voices… the dead didn’t speak, did they? >>

He just stood there staring at this new face. For whatever reason Darius couldn't piece together a response. He shouldn't be so surprised, he kicked her barricade down after all. "N-no..." he finally managed to utter. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a small slip of scrap paper.Steven Boykin Floor 4, Room 41 was printed in black ink, slightly smudged from being crumpled up repeatedly. "You'll have to excuse me. I'm looking for someone. We can... discuss things later. Right now however..." and with that, Darius shoved the note back into his pocket before making his way to the stairs. There could be many more in this hotel. There could be zombies. It didn't matter. Room 41 on floor 4 was the only thing that mattered currently.

Darius hastily made his way up the stairs, nearly tripping and breaking his neck twice. He hadn't looked behind him to see if the girl he just met was following. He focused solely on his goal, room 41. After what seemed like an eternity, he was finally at the beginning of the hall that was floor 4. He could hear voices, other people were in the building. None of them sounded like a 10 year old boy dying of cancer. The pro baseball player grasped the bat tightly as he made the slow walk towards room 41. There were faint noises coming from the end of the hall. They were either young Steven or something much worse. It looked as if some things had been scavenged from this floor but the end of the hall appeared untouched. Darius took a deep breath before knocking lightly on the door. There was a long pause before the voice of a child could be heard. "Who is it?" The voice from behind the door asked. Darius breathed a sigh of relief before slowly opening the door. "I'am the one who knocks." Darius replied. His grin quickly went south after getting a good look inside of room 41. A body of a woman lay sprawled out in front of the door. Bloody prints and marks indicated the woman had attempted to escape the room before succumbing to her wounds. A young man was propped against one of the room's queen sized beds. Most of his head was missing and his corpse showed signs that he had turned. Sitting at the far end of the room was little Steven Boykin. He was in his wheel chair clutching a doll of a beloved cartoon character. As Darius approached the boy he could see the doll was stained with blood as well as most of the child's clothes. "Are you mister Hearthorne?" the little boy asked as Darius knelt beside him. "Yeah... I heard you were sick so I... I brought you something to make you feel better." Darius loosened his grip on the bat and presented it to the boy. With the little strength he had left, the boy clutched the bat close to his chest before reading the inscription on the end. Darius took this time to get a good look at his wounds. It was a miracle he was still breathing given his current state. "Mr. Hearthorne." Mr. Hearthorne's gaze shifted back to the dying boy's face. "Thank you." was the last thing the boy could muster. He outstretched his arms as Darius leaned forward to hug him. He held the boy for a few moments as he passed from this living hell to where ever it is the souls of children with cancer go. He left the boy with the bat, the same bat that helped save Darius' life in the alley way earlier. He stepped across the room and smashed one of the glass lamps on the bedside table. With some of the blankets off the bed that wasn't stained with zombie blood, he was able to form a makeshift, glass shiv with a cloth handle. He pierced the boy through his right eye, sparing him from becoming one of the walking dead. "Now what..." Darius said to himself as he stood in the bloodied room surrounded by 3 lifeless corpses.

TL;DR Bryan gives Irena a bag. Suggests they leave now before Darius comes back, only soon realizes that Darius is too much like his brother, Henry Bradley, and can't find it within himself to abandon the guy. He goes after Darius and invites him to join the crew. Now, back in the lobby, Bryan isn't looking to hot from too much running around and the loss of blood from the day before. If he keeps this up, he might look like a zombie, at least color wise

---

Whelp, there was no need for an ambush for the bat-wielding fool brushed past the crew on the stairs as if they were ghosts. Clearly he was preoccupied, but with his sights only on one thing he would surely become a liability if he joined there group. A shiver ran down his spine and he stepped forward. There was no way that blonde could join them.

"Here," he tossed a packed back at Irena's feet. "Can't promise the contents but it'll do. We can always come back here after we stock up."

As much as he hated the redhead, there was something about her that proved useful. She was the only one to really do any damage to the zombies so she had to come with them. Once Bryan was within whispering distance of her, he leaned forward and uttered, "I've got a stockpile of guns we can snag."

Stepping back, he readjusted his vest and slapped on his shades again. Eyes shifting toward the stairs, he found silence. Good, the kid wasn't returning just yet. If they were to leave him behind, it was now or never. He would just get in there way. They needed to let that silly man fight his own fight. To bring him on board was to ask for death.

"Let's dit--" something within hit him hard. Wincing, he grit his teeth. A vision ran across his mind and it brought Bryan great pain. No. Darius needed to be left behind. It was the logical choice. Would you really abandon him? Biting his lip, the brunette found himself shaking slightly. He couldn't leave that guy. Whoever the handsome-faced baseball carrying man was... he seemed-- no, he looked too much like Brad. He couldn't leave Darius behind just like he couldn't abandon Brad. Odds pit against them, his resolution was sound.

"Brb," he grunted before double timing it up the stairs. As he retreated, he instructed the others to tape up their arms with cardboard or something to prevent bites. He was pretty sure he saw it in a movie before and, frankly, the idea was a pretty sound idea.

It took him a bit of time to find the blonde, but when he did the mess before his eyes didn't phase him none the less. It had to be done. Bitten humans needed to meet death.

Hand reaching out, he grasped Darius' shoulder. "You've done all you can." His voice was soft, like something he would speak to his brother with. "Listen," his hand dropped and moved to rub his neck, "if you want, you can come with us. We're heading out soon." Extending a backpack to Darius, he tried to smile. "It beats surviving alone."

With that, Bryan turned on his heels and began to move back toward the lobby. If Darius wanted, he could follow. If not, Bryan wouldn't waste another second. He hoped whoever the guy was would accept the offer. The thought of just leaving him would forever bore a hole into his soul. Darius had to come with them.

Back in the lobby, Bryan's face was white as a ghost. Maybe all this running around after losing blood from the door-incident wasn't a good idea. "Craff Princess, er, Irena's boyfriend," he hushed, "where's an expensive American-style hotel that's near a pizza place? That's where we need to go."

Presented a bag and a soft smile, Ai couldn't help but give a goofy grin back at the girl. “Sank you!” He took the bag with a nod of his head. Sure, this unfashionable little bag would soon be dumped in the gutter or pawned off to anyone that wanted it, but it was a nice gesture. Some of the snacks and such were added to his messenger bag. Better than that, he was handed back his gun. “Sank you, Wesson-san!” Ai swiftly took the previously useless lump of metal which now had a new sense of safety to it. Ai stood for a moment examine the work done on it. It didn't look any different but the fact that it was just in a thousand pieces then thrown back together proved that something must have been done to it.

Sure, a snubbed colt ain't exactly the most practical gun to have. The thing had enough kickback to send you to the floor. Loud too. But Ai had always wanted the chance to fire something that life threatening. He had even thought about dropping some Yakuza with it before. Still. Murder was not quite his thing. 'Re-dead? Sure, fire away, Idol. Centre stage is all yours!' His little inner monologue was cut short by the new person. Ai had been so lost in thought that he missed half of the content. All he saw was the rather athletic looking male brush by and make a start for the stairs.

Ai was sure he had seen his face before, but where? Was that guy a big deal? Had he ever been on a talk show at all? His head swum with ideas, his body still at rather unstable. Ai wobbled. 'Shit. Not now.' As if he was in some teen drama, he let out a short yawn and fell back on the wall, propping himself into a typical bored teen pose. The last thing he wanted was for them to think he was weak. If the group saw him as burden, they would leave him for dead. Now is NOT the time to be ill. A cold smile played across his features as he stared down at the chains on his legs. 'Wouldn't be the first time I have been left alone...'

His band was gone. His family... Perhaps some of his friends were okay? Still. They were mostly over seas. Ai could only pray for their safety. With that thought gone, the suit interrupted his dwelling.

“BRB.”

'What. Just... What?' Before he could vocalise a question, as to what this man was trying to spell, he was off. Wesson seemed to be following the gent that ran passed them. That's when it struck Maki Ai. No one had checked the front door in a while. Had anyone even scoped out the front? Perhaps he could be useful. Turning to Irena, he strode towards her, a soft grin on his purple lips. “Hey, Atsui!” In a moment, he closed the distance in a second, swooping in next to her ear. “I... Going down to the desk. Look after this! Leave me a few...” He whispered awkwardly as he slipped a half eaten bag of animal crackers into her hand. “Keep your energy up!”

Laughing loudly as he grabbed his makeshift spear from the room. He gave a wave to group as he turned on his heels and ran, following the others to the stairway, going down instead of up. “Hai wa, Haa~i nii~! Chiri wa, Chiri ni~~!” He felt like this would be a great idea. At least he could report on the situation. Also... There might be a map, which would be helpful to the group. “Saraba, Ut-su shimi no hana!” Ai's voice echoed up the stairwell before he reaching the bottom. They had done a quick sweep of the hotel and it was mostly clear when they entered. So singing shouldn't draw any unwanted deadheads.

Ai. made it to main reception. Alas. They had blocked the door when they got in. Coast was clear. Peering through the glass to the streets ahead. Rather clear streets. Sure. The dead were out there, but they all seemed to be slow and rather passive. Ai had seen hordes and such on the way here, so what made them travel in packs? Perhaps something had drawn the attention of the more able zombies and all the damaged and weak ones stayed behind? Deadhead hierarchy? Perhaps he was thinking too much. However, he could safely say the streets would not be too risky.

Raiding the desk for anything of use, Ai snapped up a pocket map with tourist points on it. Better than nothing. He also gained a few chocolates that they leave on your pillow. They were high end chocolates but still pretty cheap compared to what Ai was used to. Throwing a few in his bag, he was sure someone would like them. All that was left was to check the storage closet. A quick tug of the handle and...

“AGHHH!”

Ai shreiked. Swining back and forth was a body. Hanging. Seems this poor soul wanted to die naturally. However, he was a bit bloody. Had he been attacked? Ai let the thought slide as he started to examine the closet.

“GRUUUH.”

A hand grasped for Ai's face, catching his hood. With ungodly strength it seemed to drag him almost off his feet. 'Fuck, did this guy work out every day?!' Blinded and panicked, Ai twisted his body, kicking the corpse to be as hard as he could. -CREAK...CRASH.- He was let go, falling on his ass. Pulling his hood from his face, he saw that things were worse than he thought. The deadhead head been pushed back, and kinda... Broke the metal pole it had been hanging from. It scrambled forward towards Ai. Gripping the stick hard, Ai gave a strong thrust into the bastards throat. It went in deep, almost straight through! 'Did I do it?' The foul ghoul was still in motion, but a few jabs to the head stopped his movement. “Gomen...”

With that out of the way, Ai gave a long sigh. Is this what life is now? Damn it. Much to his disappointment, there was not a great amount of usable things here. Some paint thinner in a clear bottle. A certain pyro may enjoy that. A few medical supplies. Really he had no idea about them. Medical alcohol? Can you drink it? He thought it would be best to see if anyone else could used this stuff.

Re-securing his spear, he made his way back up the stairs, with his new bottle of fun. When he made it to the top... Wesson seemed to be back also. “Guys! We... The coast! The coast is pretty clear! I had a rook, I think we are pretty safe! Yatta!” His words were rushed and out of breath, but he still managed to fit in three different poses as he said them. Hey. He gets paid to be flashy. It became second nature. However... He was now down to his top. The hoodie had torn in a place it was not designed to be. Ai had abandoned it at the desk.

“American food? I do not know. I don't eat bad food.” What he meant to say was junk food, but poor Ai had likely just opened a can of worms here. “Look! Guide for outsiders!” With a gleeful smile, he handed Bryan the leaflet, made for westerners. “Maybe that will know for you? Oh! We have medical supprise in downstairs! Hanging man was scary, hai?”

Ai had gone full excitement. With the adrenaline, he was no longer thinking. He mumbled some untranslatable words in Japanese that roughly summed up how he felt he would die, before bursting into laughter. Smooth, Ai.

"Oh alright come in."

Somehow Irena's voice changed from threatening to cheerful in the span of a couple words and a frightened expression from the other person. It was nice being in charge and unchallenged, especially by a gringo much taller than her, but she supposed a knife tended to help in that regard. Six million feet or not, she could gut him like a fish. And I will if he turns out to be lying.

After quickly repairing the barricade, she was about to follow the blonde man as he scrambled up the stairs. Oh God he's not going to hurt himself is he? She would hate to see such a pretty face go to waste, but something told her that he wasn't so fragile. If anything he looked determined to keep running until he found what he was looking for, so determined in fact that Irena gave up and decided to wait. If he turned into a zombie half-way through she would just say that he was a janitor or something.

Turning over, she saw Bryan toss something at her feet (Ah crap they saw him!) and knelt down to dig through the contents. There was a bit of food, clothing, pain killers, and some of the items she'd snagged the day before (meaning yes alcohol). There were even bullets.

Was that guy really going to let her have a gun?

"I always knew you were useful for something Bryan," she said, standing up with her knapsack.

Actually now that she thought about it, he probably just wanted her to hold on to them so that he could bring another one of his overpriced suits. He wouldn't let her near one of those things in a hundred years. He probably thinks I'll shoot everyone. Grabbing her newly repaired weapon (she managed to retrieve a knife from the hotel kitchen and duct tape it on) she barely managed a "good morning Maki" before the j-rock star rushed to scout the reception.

"Aye Maki wait for me!"

She sighed and decided that it was best if she give her heart a break and start eating. They were safe for now right? They just needed to chill out and-

“AGHHH!”

"Maki? MAKI?!"

When she left the room, Maki was clutching his spear, a few travel guides and...paint thinner?

"Maki what the hell are you holding? More importantly what happened to your hood?"

He seemed to ignore him at first, choosing instead to spazz out about what he had seen downstairs, zombies. Of course he'd be happy about surviving a zombie attack, he had his newly made weapon. It wasn't nearly as beautiful as his snub-nosed sister (more like than ugly, distantly-related cousin), but it worked his favor and was less likely to run out of bullets during an emergency. She could see it now: rock star by day, zombie killer also during the day.

"You do that Maki?" she asked with a laugh, "or are you about to tell that a dude has been hanging from the lobby this whole time and we just didn't know?

The brunette was rather surprised that this new face just completely blew by them, passing Aubrey and Ian on the stairs without even a passing glance. "Uh.." She stopped, turning to watch him make his way up the stairs, wavering with every step but clearly determined to get where he needed to go. Had he given up? The thought tugged at her heartstrings, and she couldn't help but think he needed help.

Struggling with the thought herself, it seemed Bryan was thinking the same thing. At least that's what she hoped as he took off after him. The expression on his face wasn't a cold or mercilous one, so Aubrey felt there wasn't a need to worry. Bryan wouldn't go and kill an innocent without reason... right? Right. Even in the face of much despair, Aubrey wouldn't let this world kill her optimistic attitude toward people.

It was then Ian grabbed her attention, his head hanging as if he were about to admit something terrible. Bracing for bad news (if anything could really get any worse from here), she placed a delicate hand on his shoulder. After listening to what he had to say, her eyes widened and slowly began to twinkle with a watery glaze. "Oh... Ian... you stupid..." She bit her lip and wrapped her arms around his neck without even thinking about his wounds she was no doubt irritating. "Why would I ever be mad at you for that? Baka." Pulling away she sniffed and rubbed under her eyes. "I don't deserve such a great little brother." Laughing away her tears she gave him a genuinely happy smile, he really never did cease to amaze her with his efforts to make her happy.

When her brother seemed to become distracted, his eyes making their way to the entry way, Aubrey turned around to see what had caught his eye. Another survivor? How lucky they were to run into another living, breathing, human.

Making her way to stand before the bespecticled woman, Aubrey looked her up and down. She didn't seem like a threat, she didn't seem wounded, and her weapon of choice was as measly as the one she had started with - okay, maybe hers was better. But Bryan did manage to max out the umbrella's deadly capabilites in the end.

"Are you okay? Is anything chasing you?" Looking over her shoulder, it seemed Ai was right, the coast was clear. They needed to take advantage of it while they could.

In the lobby stood Ai, Irena, Ian, Aubrey and this new unnamed face. Up a few flights of stairs, hopefully Bryan was coaxing the blonde to join up with them as well. A group of seven was really more than lucky to come by, the more people the more resources they could pool together - at least that's how Aubrey thought. And honestly, the more healthy human faces she saw, the more hope she found that there were many more like them out in the world, and that they might actually make it.

All they needed to do was regroup with Bryan and they could head out to find what he was looking for.

A midst the heat of the moment, the ex-model found herself toppling onto her backside. Surprised by how swiftly she was taken off her feet, she fell silent - eyes glued to the otaku before her eyes. And even more so caught off guard by the statement that soon followed, and his even more peculiar body language.

"What?!" She snapped back, "There's no way I'd try and kiss you, are you absolutely delusional?!" Either that or he was just about the weirdest guy she had ever met - well maybe not the weirdest... but certainly up there. And now that he had followed with stating he was as clueless as she, he was proving significantly less useful.

Upon that realization, and the fact she was sitting on the muddied street, her hostility and irritation was rising quickly - not really in the mood for answering the questions he had to offer. Attempting to push herself off the ground, she quickly edged her torso backward to avoid coming in contact with the tip of his bloodied shovel pointed ever so rudely at the tip of her nose.

Those golden eyes of hers came to focus on the weapon before slowly making their way up to his. Holding herself up with one hand, she raised the other to signal she meant no harm. "Cedre... Sachiko..." After he commented on her looks, you'd assume the glances to follow would feel lewd, but instead she felt more like she was being examined - and she was right.

"Idol? No. Bitten? No." Is that what those monsters do? She thought, thinking back to her mother and then letting her glance wander to the hunk of death on the ground not far from them. "Can I get up now?' She requested, an air of irritation still on her tongue.

That someone new had quickly made his way past Irena and the group on the stairs, as if they were all ghosts. That or he was very focused on going up to whatever floor he had in mind. The only distinct feature Ian saw was the blonde hair, as there wasn't much time to examine another one of the last few people alive.

Luckily for Ian, Aubrey wasn't mad, in fact she was happy. With a sigh of relief, Ian pulled his head back up and stopped hiding his face. "I-I don't know... I figured you wouldn't be happy that I did something without going to you and talking about it first." Ian chuckled a little, followed by a twitch as Aubrey hugged him from behind, part of her arm rested on the big scratch, he knew she didn't mean to put him in pain so he sat through it, as long as the wound didn't open again he didn't have anything to worry about. "Well I have the best sister in the world. Even before all this happened." Ian tried to joke about the current situation of the world a little, his mood became a little more care free after finding out Aubrey wasn't mad.

After finishing all thought, Ian looked around him. Bryan and Aubrey were both missing, Oh and Maki too. Uh oh... how long had I been spacing out for?! Is it just me and Irena left? Looking around Ian quickly spotted Aubrey downstairs with an unfamiliar face. Did that blonde man had a partner? Girl friend? Sibling? Or just met up after all of this? It didn't really matter, another person was another person. Ian made his way down to the lobby and over to Aubrey and the second stranger. After getting closer Ian was able to get a better look, Brown hair, glasses, brown eyes. She looked to be about the age of Ian and Aubrey which was great. Her weapon? Not so great... but it would do the job. She's.... pretty cute... was the only thought Ian could process, she acted like none of this apocalypse mattered. "H-hi... d-do you speak English? A-anata wa eigo o hanashite imasu ka?" Ian couldn't make direct eye contact, at least not till he found out what she meant to the blonde haired man.

Irena started shouting after Maki. What was going on behind them? Do they even want to know? All Ian heard was Irena shouting Maki over and over again. For all he knew they could be doing.... that. Ian was not ready to see another man naked. Nor would he ever be, but with this world he needed to see what was going on. Luckily Ian's dirty mind wasn't right, but Maki wasn't wearing the same hoodie he was when they left the hotel room and was holding a new weapon. What the hell happened? Oh Bryan was back too. Did he go after the Blonde hair? Ian couldn't hear anything Maki was saying to Bryan, all he saw was him make a few different poses and he seemed very happy. Wait... missing hoodie, Irena screaming Maki's name... Maki overly excited... Maybe they did do it...

Suddenly there was commotion around and about the building around Tilly. “Oh dear me!” she exclaimed as a blonde man rushed by her, making brief eye contact before jetting away with a mission. She wondered if she should follow him, but her mind wandered to other places when she heard voices speaking again. She hadn’t thought that other survivors were out there, and honestly Tilly had rather liked the idea of being the last woman on Earth. She dreamed of touring the homes of her favorite celebrities without the tourguides, she had even contemplated making a raft and seeing how far she could get into uncharted waters. She would bring a volleyball and name it Wilson and halfway through the journey poor Wilson would bob off into the waters, and Tilly would jump in after it shouting and shouting “WILSON!! WILSON!!!” “No,wait,” Tilly muttered to herself, “That’s the plot of Castaway… I wonder howTom Hanks is doing these days?” Her heart sank as she realized he was probably not doing too well.>>


Tilly began to twirl her baton-weapon again, and continued deeper into the building’s catacombs. The blonde had whirred away so fast shewasn’t even sure where to start looking, but she knew she needed to find him. “We’re probably the only two left,” she laughed to herself, bringing her head back and then forward again. She stopped directly in her tracks when she saw people. “More of them??” her mind sang, her heart rising again from where Tom Hanks had sankit. There was a tall, think girl with brown hair that was staring intently down at a slightly smaller boy who looked like he was shivering with worry. Tilly may have wondered whether the girl was a villainous being who was extorting money from an unsuspecting victim, but money would not have been of much use anymore…and it was very clear by the way she looked lovingly down at him that they knew each other very well. >>


“You shouldn’t interrupt,” Tilly nodded to herself, “They’re having a serious conversation!” She did think that this moment was a very inconvenient time to have a conversation. In just this one day she had found three people. This wouldn’t have struck her as very important, but her father’s face flashed into her mind. He was old, wrinkled, smiling broadly at her from her memories. “Three people…” she whispered, “Then maybe there’s a chance he-”Her thought was cut off as she made eye contact with the tall girl, then glanced up the staircase to see the boy. Both of them were wearing the same look on their faces. When had they gotten there? >>


“Oh no! They’ve been talking to me!” she thought to herself before opening her mouth to say something! “O-O-Oh yes good people, quite right!”was all she could stutter out before offering them her biggest “hi there!”grin. >>

Ai was getting rather too worked up, caught up in his own glamour. No, it was more than that. He was surviving. Even within his own band, he would be teased and picked on for being the weakling or the coward. He had adapted to luxury far too easy. 'Well, you did work your ass off for it...' Ai reasoned with himself. Still, the feeling of being an over pampered weakling left a sour taste in the idols mouth. Usually he preferred his mouth to taste of that expensive black cherry gum or maybe watermelon.

“Ah? My hoodie? Ah! Etto... It... Lost value.” He gave a separation gesture with his hands followed by the poutiest look you had ever seen. He looked like a bag of kicked puppies. His top had a mesh sleeve down the left side, a detachable blood red sleeve on the right and the top itself was some sort of skin tight tank top. It almost looked painted onto him. It was a shiny material. 'Perhaps today’s clothes were a tad impractical...' Not that it bothered Ai. He was used to his overcomplicated garments. He gave a swift shrug and let out a deep breath. “Hai. I put him to rest... Gomen-ne!”

He gave Irena a weak smile. His balance still wasn't too hot. That wouldn't stop him. He was on form today. He tossed her the explosive material. The lovely little clear bottle. “For you... Right up the sky again, if you need to.” He gave the usual face, locked into that smirk. “If I get too... Cold we can go to Shibuya! I have lot's of clothes there!” He didn't even realise how idiotic he was being. Shibuya was one of the most densely populated areas and no doubt would be a great source of supplies but they would need an army to get in unharmed. Still, there was no way he would settle for something that was not made just to bring the best out in him! He had an image to uphold. Ai dropped the idea for now, eyes now set on the teary two. Had something happened? He thought better than to interrupt but the boy seemed... To look at Ai with the oddest expression.

That is when Ai heard a new voice. A girl. Nervous sounding. Stutter and pausing but she had a sincere smile. Like a child whom had just found an extra present under the tree, Ai ran forth to interrogate. Managing a small jog over to the others he gave a wave to the new girl. “Oiii! Herro! Are you OKAY?” Ai said with a little bit of enthusiasm. Okay, maybe a tad too much. Fairly sure he made everyone in the building hear him. Having more members seemed like a great idea. Her weapon looked a bit bloodied so it was clear that this poor soul had to defend herself already.

But that is what this country is now. Being here is just a struggle to survive. He hated the idea of having to leave his homeland. It actually broke Ai's heart to thing that Tokyo was nothing more than a breeding ground of the dead. He had finally managed to be a someone here. Live the high life. He had hoped to make Tokyo his own little domain. A place he could walk the streets and be known. A place that his friends could live easy. Where they would no longer hurt. The pained expression she once wore now sat on his mind, his face in a similar state. “Tch.” Thinking wasn't helping him right now. “If you can! You should come with us! Wesson looks mean but he fixed my gun!”

He grinned as falsely as he could, trying not to let the realisation that his life and his home were nothing to be proud of any more. Why hadn’t this set in earlier? 'Baka.' All of these people had a place to go back to. What did Ai have? 'Urusai. URUSAI.' He had agonized enough. Pulling his breathing back, he stabilised. Ai hadn’t even noticed that his stage presence had broken, his breathing had been laboured and heavy. Now was the time to move. It didn't matter what was ahead. He had to survive. As much as a comfort this hotel was, this wasn't getting them anywhere. Ai tugged on his bracelet lightly for support and to make sure it was still there.

“Ikuze... I mean... Etto... Let's stop wasting time. We should get going, no point burning out the sun time, no?” Throwing his hair over his shoulder, Ai made his way to the stairs once more. Stepping out to the stairwell, he took a long glance upwards, hoping to see the blonde male. Where had he seen him before? Ai couldn't remember. All he knew was, if he was gonna join them, he had better soon. Because sticking around here was not an option.

"Delusional?" Yuki tilted his head, if he was delusional then things had gotten quite far out of hand. Even if he was completely over the edge and this was all some big dream-like state, he'd remembered beating a few heads in with that bat from earlier. Not undead heads either, real living people heads. He was pretty sure he wouldn't do that, but it didn't exactly feel like a dream. He was pretty sure he didn't kill anyone, but the crunch of their bones underneath the aluminum, the stampeding crowd or the hungry monsters likely got to them later. The Budokan held about 20,000 people, and things went south in the middle of that concert. A place that was heaven had become hell so quickly, "I don't think so, but I can't be sure!~" Sticking out his tongue and giving his head a gentle tap with one of his fists he chuckled again. Things were going to work out.

The woman he'd run into was indeed beautiful, but seemed to be at least somewhat fit. While they were around the same size, she seemed much healthier than he did, scrawny nerd that he was. The weapon sheathed at her hip was, a katana? The woman's eyes seemed to have grown fierce as she scowled up at him, enough to send a faint shiver up his spine. Curiosity bubbling up inside him about her as she replied, he wondered many things about her. Had she done sports? Kendo maybe? The sword looked quite well preserved, she likely had not used it much, so where had she found it? A museum? Maybe there was a museum nearby that had some useful weapons in it? Probably not, but-

Oh right! "Ah, yes yes! Sorry about that!" Placing the shovel back on his shoulder, he smiled and leaned over. Offering his free hand to help her up, his teeth caught the rising sun with just enough angle to add a momentary sparkle to his grin. His help was more pulling her up to her feet, steadying her and then giving her a few pats on the back. Stretching and taking a deep breath, he surveyed the area once more.

A few corpses hobbling around not too far, but that gunshot from earlier was starting to draw in some attention. Digging into one of his hip packs, he produced one of his protein bars and began to eat it. "Well, Sacchan, a pleasure to meet you and all but our time here is running out. Things started around yesterday or maybe a bit before, but the outbreak was yesterday. Things those monsters kill come back to life, unless they're too chewed up to move afterwards. Sort of like those horror movies I could never bring myself to get into. Cell reception's been down since yesterday and most tv and radio stations have stopped broadcasting too. I was headed this way in search of people, I heard a gunshot from a bit further up the street." Making sure to carefully eat between his words, he was sure choking even a little would be certain death. It would be more than enough noise to draw in nearby zombies and he'd he panicking until he righted his breathing.

"That means they've also heard it, and there's likely a pack of them headed this way. I'm not going to hang around for them though, but other than not here I don't really have a set destination... If you want someone to watch your back, I'd sure appreciate the comfort of a friendly face." Tossing the wrapper of his bar into a trash can nearby, he pulled another out and offered it to the girl, "Want one too, Sacchan? You're going to need energy to survive." Though he spoke about the disaster, the veritable end of the world, he was calm and cheerful. The boy looked at the woman expectantly, eager to see if she'd decide to tag along with him or to tough it alone. If she tried to look cool and head off by herself he might wind up following her though. That sort of attitude would surely get her killed.

Darius remained in the room for awhile longer. He contemplated the invitation. What was left for him to do? What was left for any of them to do? Survive? Perhaps that is the world they live in now or perhaps there was some sort of salvation beyond all of this. The man who spoke to him also spoke english. Had the same fate befallen America?

With a deep sigh, Darius clutched the glass shiv tightly and made his way out of the room. Closing the hotel room door behind him, he peered down the hall to catch a glimpse of the man heading back downstairs. Darius followed suit.

There were more of them. More than he had imagined. Then again, they were in a large hotel in the middle of the city. It wouldn't make sense if people weren't here. Darius fastened the shiv inside of his coat as he approached the group. It would be wise not to make himself appear hostile as it looked some of them were well armed. "I'm not sure what you all are planning to do but I can't remain here. If you'll have me, I'll come along with you."

((Filler post because everyone appeared to be waiting on me and I'm sort of writers blocked.))

Tilly was in a minor state of shock. Before either of theshocked pair in front of her could reply, another man came swerving into hersight. He was her height, but with striking features that seemed to gleam withbeautiful intensity. She did notice, however, that his top was shimmering. Shewondered if it would shine when it hit the sunlight? She hoped so! Then shebegan to wonder if perhaps the man could use it to light a fire, like somepeople can with magnifying glasses. “Fire Abs” could be his super hero name.Tilly nodded, priding herself on her genius. >>


She shook the thought away and processed what he was saying.They wanted her to come with them? A pit of nerves grew in her stomach, she’dnever been good with people. However, when it comes to the end of the world,some company is always good company. And she knew these people could help hersurvive more effectively than she would be able to do on her own. Even with herplywood pal, she knew she would need help eventually. And if for nothing elsethan listening to her talk about historical events, these people would beappreciated. >>


“I want to go! I’ll go! I’ll absolutely go! Let’s use yourshirt to light a fire! Where are we going?” the people were already starting torush out of the building, giving final looks back to see if someone else werecoming. “Yes! Waste not the time!” she sanghappily, following them out of the building and into a new era of her life, as other people rushed into her peripheral vision! >>

Still feeling rather queasy, maybe he shouldn't have run this morning, Bryan stepped forward and placed a hand on Aubrey's shoulder. "Don't suppose you have any pain killers in your med-pack, do you?" Even though he concealed the bruise to make it look like it never happened, Bryan was in far more pain than the others could and would ever realize. If she had some sort of pain-killer, he would take it. If not, he would just grit his teeth and bare it.

Eyes gleaming over the people, he grimaced. Their numbers were getting unbearable. In no times, the gun to human ratio wouldn't look good. Bryan, being selfish, already wrote it off that he would get at least two guns. Certainly helped that he was 1) the most competent around guns, 2) a fine marksmen, and 3) the creator of said guns.

Shades back over his eyes, he stepped forward and made his way toward the outside. Right now, things looked calm -- but that was never a good sign. Calm before the storm, right? With a lazy groan, he pushed the door open and zipped across the street. With a hand raised to the group to tell them to hold their position until he scoped out the situation, Bryan ducked down the road and secured a clean path. When it was safe, he beckoned the ragtag team to follow.

Once they were all beside him, he whispered, "I'll keep a step ahead and scope out the area. Aubrey, Craff-man, you two are the only ones with guns -- that I know of -- you're going to keep everyone safe. Aubrey, stay closer to the front with Ian, and Ian, use the axe if anything gets to close. Irena, I trust your judgement, want to hold the back-line with your boyfriend? The rest of you just keep quiet and keep your eyes peeled. If we can find a truck, we should probably have Irena hotwire it so we can get from point to point faster. Regardless, as we move along, look for poles," he showed off his dual-poles, "or something that could prove handy. If it's too heavy, trade with me and I'll swap."

Assuming no one objected, he silently side-stepped forward to the end of the road again. Body pressed firmly against the bus stop's shelter, he turned his gaze down the intersection to seek radio silence and stillness. Too bad Maki was no help in providing direction. Bryan would literally have to go off his gut and the hopes he could remember how to get back to the conference room, which was kitty-corner to the hotel (he believed).

God, this wasn't going to be a fun few hours. Leading a pack of non-experienced hunters in a foreign, city area. Yeah, it was hardly Bryan's comfort zone. Honestly, he was beginning to wish he never signed up for this trip. Stop convention. Stupid pride. If only he didn't come to be his alter-ego, Aelki, he might not be in this position with these strangers!

Before Ian could really tell what was going on, the blonde haired man returned from the stairs. Something seemed different about him, but what was it? Oh, he no longer had that bat. What did he do with the bat? Ian wondered. Luckily, the man chose to follow the group to wherever Bryan was taking them. Does that mean this girl with glasses was going to come as well? Ian still did not understand what the relationship between the two were, if there was even one.

As usual, Bryan started barking orders and telling people to do this and to do tha- Wait... did Bryan just tell Aubrey to stick close to Ian? This was probably the biggest surprise since he found out the world was destroyed! Was Bryan finally realizing how foolish he was being for constantly hitting on Aubrey with the way the past 24 hours have gone? Don't get your hopes up... Ian thought. You never know with that man.

Luckily the cute brown haired glasses girl tagged along, wait what were there names? They didn't even have time to introduce themselves before Bryan made the move outside while the rest followed him, kinda like a mother duck leading her babies across a road. "H-hey... I know it's not the best time for this but we seem to be pretty clear now, I just realized we don't even know your names." Ian said the the Blonde and the glasses girl, still making sure to stick close enough to Aubrey that he was basically her shadow. "I-i'm Ian. and this is my big sister, Aubrey." Ian said poking her on the shoulder.

It was a shame Maki wasn't of much help for directions, you'd think of all people, he'd be the one who would know his way around Tokyo, being the locol and all. Regardless, the group carried on and made there way across from street to street in hopes that Bryan would start to see some familiar buildings.

The two bags around his shoulder had been bothering him this entire time, as long as the wound didn't open again he'd be fine and fight through the pain, reaching his left hand onto his back on the righter side, Ian lightly placed his hand over the scratch to see if everything was okay, after pulling his hand back out and looking at it he could see a bit of blood on his fingers, meaning the wound was starting to bleed again. He wasn't sure if zombies could smell and if they were attracted to the smell of blood but he didn't want to find out. "Aubrey, the cut is starting to bleed again, when we get into this hotel room do you think you could take a look at it again and see if you can help stop the bleeding? he said while shifting the two bags onto his other shoulder.

Now with this I'm sure the two new strangers were a little worried as to what had happened, seeing he just started bleeding at random. Ian was afraid they were going to think he had gotten bit and was still following the group and nothing good would come from that. Hell it could possibly scare one or both of them away. Wherever this hotel was, they need to get there quick. Really quick.

Catching the corner of his eye, Ian spotted two figures. They were a little far away so they were most likely safe and wouldn't be spotted. As the group waited for Bryan's single once again, Ian could not stop staring at the two. He just wanted to make sure they weren't seen and have to worry about two flesh craving corpses chasing them all the way to the place with the guns. But wait... was that one holding a.... shovel? Did the infected learn to use weapons?

"For me really? You weren't scared by that explosion?" Irena could practically kiss him right now.

Well she would have if it weren't for the whole zombie invasion fiasco. She slipped the paint thinner into the pack with the rest of her things as they filed out, not bothering to respond to his comment about heading to Shibuya since everyone was moving out. They had stumbled upon two more travelers, a girl with classes (she didn't seem very adept with weapons) and the man from earlier with a baseball bat (probably very adept with weapons).

Bryan had taken up the role of leader for this "mission", as he did earlier which she honestly didn't mind. When the two of them weren't trading barbs he was competent enough to protect everyone and utilize them to the best of their abilities. In this case, she and Maki would be protecting everyone from behind, Maki with his gun and her with explosions and more spears. She didn't bother to question why Bryan didn't give her a gun, but assumed that he didn't trust her that much. Fair enough. I wouldn't give him one either.

As they moved along, Ian decided to introduce himself to the newcomers, leading Irena to roll her eyes. Were they going to have to do this every time they picked up someone new? While she didn't mind the company she sort of wished that this was some sort of video game where your name was just displayed above your head. Or maybe we should just start carry around name tags.

"'Rena," she muttered after some delay.

The road was even more overrun than before with what seemed to be past survivors and broken glass strewn across the streets. As much as she would have liked to hop into another car, many of them were vulnerable to zombie attack and she didn't want to risk Ian's blood getting them in danger.

"We should address it now before you make us zombie bait," she piped in, "we can cover you two while Aubrey patches you up.

It didn't long for Aubrey to realize this one was a little off beat, but that had never been a problem for her in the past - and to put it bluntly, she really couldn't be one to judge. If anything, the fact that this girl was able to smile so genuinely in the state this world had come to, that alone was an asset.

"Please come with us." The brunette requested bluntly. She couldn't leave her behind, she wanted to make sure someone like this made it out alive.

As an attempt was made to welcome another into their traveling band of misfits, Aubrey drew her attention back to the stray Bryan had managed to bring in as well. It was a relief, knowing that he really was compassionate - despite whatever motivation he may have at the moment. Even if it's just safety in numbers, she wouldn't ask. She wanted to believe the act came from his heart.

"Oh, pain killers?" She asked, thinking to herself. "One second." Dropping down to the ground she hovered over her bag as she rifled through it's insides. She had definitely swiped a bottle, it was in there somewhere. Upon finding it, she took his hand and unballed the natural fist he was making to place the pills in the center of his palm. Additionally, she opened a water bottle for him and held it out to him. "Let me know if you need any more... but we should probably be careful with these..."

Wide eyes mused over the bottle, trying to find the side effects somewhere until her brother pulled her attention away. "Oh!" Her stare darted directly to the blood soaking through the back of his shirt. "I'm sorry, I should have thought of this sooner!"

Without hesitation, Aubrey came to her brothers aid, tending to his wounds with a serious expression dawning her face. It was astonishing, really. In her natural habitat, the way the world used to be - when it was normal, she was nearly incapable of taking care of herself. It was always Ian who would take care of her, but now it seemed she finally had the opportunity to pay him back.

It was incredibly difficult to comprehend this guy, his state of mind - his smile. But she wasn't going to question it anymore, or at least right now. It was entirely plausible he had a screw loose, or possibly two. Or maybe just took some really good drugs, clearly better than Sachiko's.

Momentarily she was hesitant to take his hand, considering he was in fact the one that sent her to the ground in the first place. There was a moment where she was about to take his palm in hers, but thinking against it, she leaned her hand back and used it to push herself off the ground.

Dusting herself off, she listened to Yuki go on, mixing modern day casual conversation with apocalyptic urgency. It was when he offered for her to tag along that she felt a confliction in her stomach.

It was nice to be asked, it was nice that she didn't have to - because she never would have. She didn't want to be alone in this, but she didn't want to seem like she was baggage. "Alright." She said, snatching the protein bar from her hand and mulling the idea of saying thank you. The nicety never came.

"Let's go then, lead the way."

In that moment, oddly enough, the thing eating away at her brain wasn't how this scenario would go, what they were going to do from here, instead it was simply...

..why on earth did he throw the wrapper in the trash?

Noting that she didn't accept his help up, the young man was surprised she had wound up taking up his offer to team up. There was a clear reluctance both times, and he briefly wondered if that hesitation would stick around. If she didn't she'd either wind up dead or left behind. Company was nice, and while the notion of not dying alone was sort of romantic, he planned on not dying at all. "I look forward to working wit-" Cutting himself off, he paused to listen more closely to a certain noise.

The sound of shuffling feet drew Yuki's attention away from their pleasantries. They were coming from opposite directions, had they been surrounded? Scanning the area, he noticed a group of individuals moving much with much more coordination than the dead were capable of, or at least those he had run into. In fact, if it weren't for their bags he'd likely have ignored them altogether. If they had bags, they probably had supplies. From the other direction was a small group of zombies shambling their way. Gesturing to Sachiko with a nod, his grin hadn't faded in the slightest, "Sacchan, Sacchan, I have to know. Is that sword at your hip a toy or the real deal?" If she was just some sukeban with some sort of practice sword, she most likely wouldn't have hesitated earlier. She certainly didn't give off that yankii vibe, but looks could be deceiving.

That group ahead, he thought, was probably the source of the earlier gunshot. The fact that they certainly weren't uniformed soldiers or police was troubling to the young Japanese, but it also made it more likely that they were the source. Police or military would have fired more than one shot. "Sacchan, let's go. Be ready to fight if you can." He whispered, heading up the street cautiously. While keeping some distance between their groups and taking sloppy cover behind a crashed car, he lifted up his shovel, waving it slightly. "Oi! Ikiteiru ka!?" Calling out to Bryan and the others, asking if they happened to be alive, his voice did seem to get the corpses attention as well. If they wound up shooting, he and Sachiko would have room to run for it, and if not they could fend off a few zombies until they made it over to the others. The alleyway he planned to use to escape was in plain sight, and had a fire escape they could climb up to get away. Head on a swivel, Yuki did his best to watch all his plans variables.

Sorry it took a while! I was out of town for nearly a month. And I didn't really have access to Internet, save for my phone which makes posting hard. @_@

---

Trying not to smile when Aubrey handed him the pain killers, Bryan's nose wrinkled as he downed the pills without water; he figured it best to not waste water on something like pills. After all, it wasn't like this was his first time swallowing pills without water.

Wincing at the god-awful taste, he gagged momentarily before regaining himself. Yup, that was not a good idea. Next time, water. ALL THE WATER. Okay, not all the water but at least a quick sip.

Attention moving across the way to the shouting voice, Bryan raised a hand as a friendly gesture to the pair approaching. Odd that they would yell with the zombies around but, whatever, it's not like he couldn't handle them.

Not wanting to waste a bullet, Bryan hiked up his pipes from earlier. "Let's not waste ammo just yet," he quipped to the ax-welding Ian.

With a few planned steps, the brunette was before one of the zombies. Not wanting to take more effort than needed, he jabbed the one pole into the zombie's back while whirling the other pole around to pop the jaw up and out. The skinny little zombie didn't stand a chance and, quite frankly, Bryan felt bad for going after the likely 18-year-old female zombie. But zombies were zombies and they all needed to die.

Since the punk-rock diva wasn't of much help, maybe these folks could be of more use. "Do you happen to know the fastest way to the all-American hotel beside a pizza joint. It's not too far from the train station -- maybe a block or three?"

Again, it was a long-shot, but maybe they knew. It would certainly make the pretty blue-eyed man's job easier if he didn't have to guess his way to the hotel. "Er, it's near a SWAT or police station."