Interlude Saya

{Saya's general POV}

1 day.

All it took was a single day for the world to fall apart.

1 day.

That was all it took for me to come closer to death then I'd ever come in all of my life. The world fell apart, society and government infrastructure was all but gone. The casualties were in the 6 digit range in just a few hours, or minutes depending on when exactly it started.

For all my genius, I didn't have an answer for this situation. For as strong as I came off in the faculty office, I was terrified. They probably knew that, they all saw me panic, they heard me scream, and they saw me breakdown. I wasn't as strong as I was making myself come off... I was terrified of dying. Of becoming one of THEM.

I was still terrified as we made our way through the school. And when we made our way through the school, I felt something I've never really felt before. I felt useless. Busujima was helping. Komuro was helping. Miyamoto was helping. Even Hirano was helping. Marikawa-sensei had supplies and helped by being the only one of us that could drive...

But what about me?

What was I doing while everyone else was fighting THEM?

I gave them facts and a hypothesis about what we knew about THEM. I stayed in the back as they fought THEM off... And after we got to the exit, and we had to run, I did nothing as I ran to the bus. What was I supposed to do? Fight? I never learned how.

I never learned how to protect myself. Mama and Papa always protected me and nobody wanted to mess with a Takagi. But THEY didn't seem to care. Why would the dead care about a family name after all.

I was scared out of my mind, terrified I'd die and drowning in feeling useless... And then it happened. There was a howl, and the grounds went silent. Everyone, including THEM, looked towards the source, and we saw it.

Standing on a roof of a building on the opposite side of the parking lot was a wolf. An honest to god wolf. In JAPAN. My brain reflexively remembered what I knew of wolves in Japan, and I was just confused.

And then the nurse, the woman that would probably lose her head if she didn't have it attached, called his name.

Silver.

A wolf named Silver dove off of the roof, and started running towards us. THEY didn't matter to him. Being bitten or clawed into didn't matter to him. He tore through them, and came our way. And even as the group we picked up died, I kept my focus on the wolf.

He made his way through THEM, and when he met up with us, I was getting close to losing it. This entire situation was ridiculous and I couldn't understand ANY of it. Then came Shidou and his group, and as they got on, I finally had enough.

I was fed up. Terrified. Useless. And I took out my frustrations on the wolf.

And then he turned my already turned around world view, on its head. He used the text to speech feature of Google, and responded to me. And that just set me off more.

When we broke off and left the bus, I was tired, frustrated, and I was just running out of whatever patience I had left.

Watching them all fight, other then Marikawa-sensei, but from what we saw, she hardly knew how to take care of herself, just made me feel even worse. Here I was, a Takagi, being taken care of by a mutt and classmates. Out of everyone, I was the most useless. I understood that.

So when we got into a 3 story home that had none of THEM in it, I didn't care about breaking and entering, or any of that. I bathed with the rest of the girls, which made me feel somewhat better, and then went off to sleep.

Waking up to the sound of shouting, by a voice I didn't recognize, set me off, and I lost it. Running into Marikawa-sensei's room and seeing a man none of us knew, I knew I should've been scared, but I was more grumpy and annoyed then I should have been.

I was about to question it, but Saeko beat me to it.

And that morning made everything that had just happened the day prior seem like nothing. A Werewolf? The last Werewolf? A king? What the actual fuck was going on?

Learning of Zaka's past, made me think. Atlantis was real. Werewolves and Vampires were real.

And all it took was 30 minutes.

A half hour of explaining, and that was all it took.

There was hope.

There was a way to survive.

There was a way to WIN.

And we had it. We had that and more. So much more.

Becoming a Werewolf. That thought would've made me laugh in the face of whoever said it. But when it was an actual Werewolf? When it was someone that claimed to be the last king of his kind?

I wasn't laughing. I was thinking.

Zaka had said we'd have to earn the 2nd bite. To earn the right to be of his pack. To be his family. And I wanted to earn that.

Since this apocalypse started, I've done nothing. I survived by pure luck and by relying on Hirano. But this... This was what I needed. I knew I had to prove I survived for a reason. A reason beyond luck, or relying on others.

So I'd prove it. I'd prove to Zaka that I could become a part of his pack. I'd prove I could do it. Even if I was terrified, even if I was horrified at the thought of dying and turning into one of THEM, I'd prove it.

That resolve only grew after we watched him cut THEM down like it was nothing.

And even as he was cut into, bitten, or hurt in other ways, he fought through them and killed them.

Seeing his unflinching attitude towards the walking dead, something inside of me sparked. Something inside of me grew. And I knew. I wanted to be like that.

I wanted to look death in the face, and not shy away. I wanted to fight, to be useful, to the others. I needed to fight. I needed to show him, and myself, I could do this. So as we made our way to Marikawa-sensei's home, I thought.

I knew I wanted to prove myself... But how was I going to do it? Zaka had said competence in battle was more then just being able to fight. And as we made our way to her home, I understood what I wanted to be.

I'd be a Werewolf, yes.

I'd prove myself worthy, yes.

I'd become the strategist of our group, and work with Hirano and Komuro on plans, and I'd prove I was worthy of joining his pack. Yes.

If only it didn't take me an hour to get the image, and sound of Marikawa-sensei's moan, out of my mind. I was a healthy and curious young woman, so I knew what sex was, obviously. But Mama and Papa never did any PDA's when I was around, and I would never hear them if they did it. So I was unaccustomed to not only seeing a very beautiful woman and clearly handsome man make out in front of me.

It also didn't help that I could see the outline of Zaka's bulge, and calculate his length and girth. I almost had to take a cold shower to chase those thoughts out of my head.

Saeko teasing me on the subject, didn't help, and was the last straw my mind could take. I knocked out, and knew I'd get that woman back for that.

The rest of the time there, I spent analyzing the news, talking to the rest of the group, and thinking about the plan Zaka had for us. I thought about what we could do to cut down our time, what routes would probably be swimming in THEM, and learning about what weapons and resources we had.

And when Zaka came back, with a pair of boars on his shoulders, I knew not to question it.

Though I did enjoy messing with the all powerful Werewolf king. He'd get it for calling me cub and messing with my hair. Though I'd never say it out loud, I did like the way he ruffled my hair.

Then came the news, and we talked about it and the event going on at the bridge. I knew something about it was wrong, but even after the day ended, I still didn't know what it was.

When Miyamoto begged for Zaka to find her parents, I was conflicted. I knew Mama and Papa would be fine. They were amazing parents, and more then capable at surviving. I was conflicted at how I'd react to them.

I hadn't heard from them, granted I didn't have my phone, they didn't send anyone to the school, and I haven't seen anyone looking for me. So I knew. They essentially abandoned me. It was a smart decision, I knew it was. It would be a waste of resources if they just sent people out on a whim of whether I was alive or not. So seeing Miyamoto, ask to have her parents found, on a whim, made me feel jealous.

But I had to put that thought out of my mind. I shouldn't be jealous at someone looking for their parents.

So as Zaka left, I thought about anything else. I ended up talking with Saeko, and that conversation helped me get my mind off of things, but also made it hard to keep my mind out of the gutter.

A while after Zaka had left, we were mostly all downstairs, watching the news and talking about what we thought the best course of action was for after we reached my estate. Then Zaka came back, and Rei ran up the stairs. We all followed, and seeing her reunite with her mother was a good thing, yes, but I felt conflicted. It was during that time I felt Zaka put his hand on my head, and I looked at him.

I wasn't sure how he knew I was conflicted about this, but for now, I didn't want him to take his hand off of my head, so I let it stay there. Then he told us about a horde coming our way, and we watched him go.

Without him, a horde of 100's of THEM seemed impossible to deal with using our current resources. But to him? He didn't care. He walked with his head held high, a grin on his face, and he stood on the balcony. His back seemed bigger then the world itself, and then he jumped.

We all crowded along the balcony, and we watched. As he shouted 'The hunt is on!' He ran into them. His claws were out, and he grinned as his fangs were bared to the world.

We watched him tear into them, ignoring the bites, the chunks of flesh stolen from his arms, leg or chest, and tore into them. I even saw him get a chunk of his neck torn out, but he fought on. And I understood.

'You won't leave your pack behind. You'll see death through with them until you're running into hell with your pack.'

Wasn't that what he was doing right now? Sure he was also after the energy, but he was basically running into hell for us. He fought like an animal, bled and had his skin torn out, protected us from THEM, and the spark inside of me started growing again.

I didn't want to run. I didn't want to be scared. I didn't want to leave everyone else to do the fighting. To look death in the face, and tear it apart. To run in with everyone else and fight with my life on the line. THAT. That was what I wanted. I couldn't and wouldn't stay the scared little girl that had to rely on others to survive.

I would prove myself. To Zaka, and to myself.

And as the day went on, as the boys saved a little girl and her dog from THEM, and as we drove away from the Marikawa-Minami household, I listened to Zaka laugh. He was bloody, looked worse then a corpse, had wounds all over his body that were still healing... And he was ALIVE.

And the spark inside of me became an inferno.