Chapter 3: Uncertain Times

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Approximately five days after Takashi and Saya scavenged for supplies in the city.

Later on, towards the night.

Takashi, Saeko, Saya, Shizuka, Rei and Kohta currently resided in Kohta's household, the group decided after bickering back and forward with each other, that they should lay down low and reside in Kohta's household, it appeared to the group that Kohta's parents were rich by the luxurious type house that they owned. The house was designed to separate the building from any separate houses from it, having a gate with fencing going around the perimeter, Takashi knew he did not have to worry about any future attacks or unexpected attacks at the very least.

Not only was the house designed to keep any intruders out, the house had multiple different unique functions to go alongside it's flawless design. Such as, the building came installed with its own generator which Kohta had powered a few days ago, a basement with shelves stocked up with healthy food's for Takashi, Shizuka, Kohta, Rei, Alice, Saya and Saeko to all indulge in, Although Kohta did not tell them that they already had food in the house, when Saya and Takashi had returned from the scavenger run, Saya was left angry and annoyed by the smaller boy's ineptitude to let her or the group know about the fascinating amount of supplies that lay around in the basement.

That being said, the group were more than happy to know that they had plenty of food to share around.

"Amazing! Onii-chan! Since when were you so amazing at video games?"

Alice giggled as she tried to use her free hand to press a bunch of buttons on Takashi's controller as the pair stood in-front of the television screen.

"Hey! That's not fair! You can't cheat whilst I am ahead, I didn't do it for you! Don't be a sore loser!"

Takashi teased the younger sister as he turned his head to face the younger girl as she made an expression that told Takashi she was very happy at the time.

"Hahaahahaha! I am not onii-chan! You are the only one being a sore loser here!"

Alice leaned forward as she summoned all of her luck and might into beating the man next to her, who she considered to be like an older brother right now, the only thing that could be heard currently was the sound of the button mashing as they tried to beat each other at the game they were playing.

"Oh god dammit! You have won this time, but I promise you that you will not win this time!"

Takashi placed down his controller after he saw the 'YOU LOSE!' on the screen in-front of the two, sighing in defeat whilst Alice celebrated her victory, Takashi leaned his head back as he used his arms to support his body weight. A certain girl he knew walked past and sat on the couch behind the two.

"YAY! I won!"

Alice stood up and giggled as she stood in-front of Takashi, leaning up slightly, the teenager gently patted her head as he praised her for winning against him. Saeko who was now sat behind the two as they had their 'sibling like moment', watched with a warm smile before crossing her legs and leaning forward with a cup of tea in her left hand.

"Wow Takashi, it's quite a surprise to know that you are a sore loser, you know."

Saeko smiled at Takashi who turned to face her with raised eyebrows, Saeko took a sip of her tea as the two continued to look at each other. Takashi laughed slightly after a few moments.

"I wouldn't say I'm a sore loser, I'm just competitive, you know?" Takashi flashed her a charming smile before turning his attention to Alice once again.

"Hey Onii-chan? Can we play some more later? Miss Shizuka said that I have to take a bath soon before I head to bed. So, can we play before then?" Alice made pleading eyes as she held the palm of her hands together like she was praying.

"Of course, do as she said, go and let her know that you are ready now... okay?" Takashi leaned in and kissed her on the forehead after asking her the question. Alice made an innocent smile as she nodded vigorously.

"Alright onii-chan! Miss Shizuka! I'm ready to take that bath now!"

The younger girl quickly ran off past the couch as she entered another room to let the green haired female teacher know, Takashi chuckled to himself before reaching forward and turning off the console under the TV. Saeko watched Takashi as he got up and sat next to her on the couch.

"If I didn't know anything Takashi, I'd assume that Alice was actually your daughter, you two get along so well after all..." Saeko held her cheek whilst thinking about the brotherly love Takashi showered Alice with.

"Well according to Alice when I spoke to her earlier, he has that 'big brother feeling' that she mentioned to me and Saya earlier." A voice pointed out as the person leaned against the door with a smirk on their face.

"Rei? Thought you and Saya would be in your room reading or something." Takashi assumed before shrugging his shoulders.

The brown-haired girl shrugged her shoulders before standing up straight and walking into the room with a platonic expression on her face, Rei wore an overly long red t-shirt with black shorts underneath the t-shirt. Takashi noticed that the t-shirt she was wearing was very familiar to his own. Takashi narrowed his eyes at his former girlfriend as she walked around and sat next to the two in short time.

"I may be wrong but isn't that my t-shirt? I was looking for that this morning..."

Takashi's mind casted back to earlier memories from today when he was looking for clothing to wear for the day, unfortunately for Takashi back then, he had to settle with wearing a plain white t-shirt instead of his usual red one. Takashi played devil's advocate and thanked himself that he knew what had happened to the top at least. Saeko watched the two with an amused smile as she continued to take sips of her tea.

"Yeah... I found it in my pile of clothes in the other room... Sorry about that..."

Rei scratched the back of her head awkwardly as she made a wry smile, earlier today, she had argued with Takashi about the red top she had worn, she remembered telling Takashi to 'look properly'. When in reality, Rei had the piece of clothing instead.

"It's fine... I'm not too bothered no more, I really like that t-shirt, at least it isn't lost around this building somewhere... Also, it just dawned on me, where is Kohta? He's been in the basement for a while, hasn't he?" Takashi asked the two ladies with a curious expression spreading across his face. The two girls were caught slightly off-guard with the quick turn around with the conversation, by Takashi.

"I spoke to him just a moment actually, he told me he was changing the shelves up in order, so we know what food to grab, in alphabetic order instead of being a random order. In Kohta's words, 'It's annoying to spend what feels like hours for one specific piece of food'." Rei quoted Kohta before rolling her eyes and giggling at her impression of the boy. Takashi nodded and chuckled alongside her as he began to find it funny as well.

"That's Kohta for you, not that I can blame him for ordering the food in an alphabetic order, I mean wouldn't it take a long time to sort out? It's probably not even worth it at this point."

Saeko joined in the conversation as she took her final sip of her tea, Saeko turned her attention towards the coffee table next to her and placed the cup down gently.

"I couldn't agree more... the thought of spending hours down there in that basement sounds very boring."

Rei let out a yawn before covering her mouth to stop her from continuing any longer. The brown-haired girl's cheeks went a slight tinge of pink as she realised that Takashi was chuckling about her yawning. Rei made no waste of time to punch Takashi in the shoulder whilst wearing a slightly irritated expression across her face.

"OW! Hey! What was that for!?"

Takashi exclaimed with an annoyed tone lacing within his throat, he had no idea why he was punched and why it had to hurt so much, the roles between the two had switched, Takashi was the one annoyed this time and Rei was amused by Takashi's outburst, all of a sudden.

"You laughed at me yawning! It was very unnecessary, after all! You get what you deserve! Hmph!" Rei pouted and turned her head from looking at Takashi any longer. Saeko rolled her eyes and giggled internally as she found the two's banter to be amusing.

"Yeah... but you didn't need to go through the extra stuff and hit me when I was already feeling apologetic in the first place..." Takashi complained and rubbed his shoulder as he felt Rei's punch leave a mark.

"Hmmmm...How I was I supposed to know you felt sorry for me? I'm not some magical mind reader, you know?" Rei crossed her legs and crossed her arms and looked away with a pout still spread across her face.

'These two sure know how to bicker... maybe that's why Rei and Takashi's best friend got together? They go at it constantly, I'd suspect their relationship if they ever had one, to be of the toxic sort of one.'

Saeko was still left unaware by the promise Takashi made to rei when they were younger, and that was for Takashi to take Rei's hand in marriage one day, looks like that wouldn't be happening any time soon. Takashi used the palm of his hands to rub the bags under his eyes as he felt slightly tired as the weary night continued.

"Good point... Gosh... I'm getting tired, right about now actually..." Takashi stood up and readjusted the skinny jeans he wore with his attire, both of the girls looked at him with confusion lacing in their looks, Takashi turned to both of his sides to look at either girl who was looking back at him.

"What are you going to do now? Head to bed?"

"If you want to hang around for a bit longer Takashi, me and Miss Shizuka will put that food in the oven after."

Hearing both of the ladies behind him talk at the same time, it left Takashi confused on who he should reply to first, although Takashi decided not to think about it too much. Instead, letting out a stretch and a yawn of his own which earnt a smirk on Rei's expression

"To answer both of that... I'm sticking around, I'm going to grab that map out of the other room in a minute, I'm thinking about using this free bit of time to come up with a distinct plan using that map to navigate around..." Takashi leaned down and grabbed the remote and switched the TV on.

The only way the TV was able to work was because of the backup generator that Kohta had in the basement of the building they currently resided in. The group had been staying at Kohta's place for almost one week now, in the meantime, the group had been resting and recovering as they hadn't gotten the best chances to regroup since the zombie outbreak had begun to reign terror on the world.

To give a better idea, Takashi was alluding to their future plans to survive within this cursed world, he was well aware that they would not be able to stay at Kohta's house forever. Now that Takashi thought about it, the idea of staying in someone's home seemed rather off putting to him, although Takashi soon realized that Kohta didn't own the house, his parents owned the house rather.

"Didn't you say something about having some sort of plan the other day? I could have sworn I heard you mention it..." Rei placed the palm of her hand as she thought to herself about Takashi's 'plan' he had mentioned multiple times before today.

"I did indeed, I'm starting to look into is how we are going to go about doing certain things within our future, we certainly will not be able to stay here forever, after all." Takashi turned to Rei with a wry smile before moving past the two and walking towards the kitchen counter, behind the couch.

Opening the cupboard above him, Takashi pulled out a glass cup and turned towards the fridge where the water was being kept, a few feet away from him, was a giant white fridge that could store various amounts of food within it. Opening it up with the glass still in hand, Takashi grabbed the jug of water that was lay on the top shelf of the fridge, closing it and bringing the jug over towards the kitchen counter.

"Why can't we stay here? We have everything we need here, although at one point we will run out of food, we can just find a way to grow and scavenge for food." Saeko tilted her head in confusion, a big part of her wanted to stay in Kohta's home for endless time, although she already figured out that Takashi was right.

"Staying here? For one, we are in the city still... If we were to stay here... we would need tons of space to grow food whilst allowing us to be able to live freely, Kohta's house only allows for limited food to be grown... we need to think long term when it comes to how we are going to thrive in this hell hole of a world." Takashi placed the palm of his right hand around the glass as he steadily poured the water into the cup.

"... Good point, I don't know about the rest but I think it would be best to stay within the compounds of the city... Is there anywhere that ticks off the boxes that can be used to survive within the city?" Saeko crossed her arms as she asked her question, Takashi walked around the counter and took a sip of his water as he made his way back towards the two ladies.

"We would need somewhere spacious... with a few buildings to go alongside with it... however, that becomes inept when you realise that you have to take our safety into account." Takashi placed his cup of water next to Saeko's now empty cup of tea, on the coffee table.

"Wouldn't we need somewhere like a prison? Has fences that are pretty impossible to get past, towers to watch and keep a look out, prison also teach their inmates to grow food as their job in prison."

Saeko suggested as she imagined her and the group setting up camp within the compounds of a prison.

"Did you seriously suggest that? I don't know about you two but... the sound of taking over a prison where there could be insane prisoners still alive... they could take advantage of us."

Rei shivered at the thought of encountering bad people in the prison, the brown-haired girl shook her head as she tried to get the bad thoughts out of her head. Takashi chuckled lightly.

"Although Saeko is right, the prison has many benefits... but even with it, the cons can and will out way the cons, even if it was possible to clear out all the hundreds if not thousands of zombies in there, plus I can almost guarantee that there are already survivors within any near prisons surrounding the outskirt of the city." Takashi sat down in between the girls, continuing to think, Takashi's mind was put through the paces as he tried to come up with the best option possible.

"Aaaaand its literally the breeding ground of insane people that have gone and lost it over something we do not care to learn, Takashi." Rei crossed her arms as she replied, she made her point clear as she earned a thinking look from Takashi and Saeko

"Well luckily Rei, we will not be starting some sort of home within the prison, too big and has many problems with zombies and stuff..."

Takashi rubbed his forehead as he felt his mind become jumbled from all of the thoughts he had been putting into their future plans, for the last few days. The last few days since arriving in Kohta's home had been surrounded by the idea of creating a plan so his friends he cared deeply for, to be able to trust him and see what he was able to see. So far, the image Takashi had was still blurry, nothing was concrete as of yet.

'What am I thinking so much for... there is more than enough time, we have at least three or so days before we get a move on, I have a sneaking feeling that if we stay here too long, we may suffer the consequences.'

"Thank god... well for now, we can work on it when Saya, Kohta and miss Shizuka are done doing their own things, for now you may as well rest, Takashi." Rei placed her arms around Takashi and pushed his head into her shoulder gently, Rei looked at Saeko with a grin that told Saeko it was 'game on'.

[Flashback begins]

November 24th 2011

A Year Before, in The Walls of Fujimi Academy.

Fujimi academy was as vibrant as ever with life booming in every corner of the school's grounds, students of all years were all currently on break as they wondered around the compounds of the academy, different groups of students were spread throughout the grounds of the prestigious academy. Somewhere inside the main building as they hung about, waiting for classes to begin again, students were also gathered inside the cafeteria as they waited for lunch to be served, a large proportion were already seated and were eating, some were also outside playing sports using the academies facilities.

'Exams are coming up in a while... we only have a year or two left until some of us part ways from this academy, maybe I should join a club after all...'

Takashi Kumuro, currently lingered on the stair way of his infamous spot that he used to get away from any situation inside classes, very few people knew about where he went off to during lunchtime and breaks, thinking about it, Saya, Rei and Hisashi were the only ones that knew where he was if they needed him.

'They clearly do not need me, wouldn't be surprise if they were getting off on each other in one of the bathrooms right about now.'

Takashi scowled as he thought about his best friend and Rei actually doing it, Takashi closed his eyes as he let his mind go blank from thinking about his friends who were currently inside the academy building.

'All of that nonsense aside, I'm surprised Saya hasn't tried to talk to me already... I swear she only comes here to visit because she has a crush on me?'

Takashi laughed at the thought of Saya Takagi having a crush on him seemed almost impossible to comprehend for Takashi, he knew he was looking into the idea too much, instead Takashi nodded his head as he tried to forget the thought, making peace with the idea once and for all.

Takashi let himself breathe as he admired how beautiful the day was now that it was later on into the day, originally when Takashi had arrived at the academy, it was raining heavily, causing Takashi to have to rush his way towards the grounds of the school whilst trying to remain as dry as humanly possible.

To no avail, Takashi arrived at the grounds of the academy wet after all.

'There is always something in the way it appears... whether its weather or running into Rei and Hisashi being all lovey dovey, if not that... Saya randomly get angry at me for something I haven't done or did.'

Most of the time, Takashi could understand the harsh reality of Saya being angry or annoyed at him, he knew he had been mostly doom and gloom for the last while, whilst Takashi wasn't proud of it, he did thank himself for being able to recognise it.

'Heck Saya, there are somethings you cannot be angry at me for.'

Takashi chuckled lightly as he leaned down and stared out towards the city that was in his view, Takashi was able to see all the big buildings that were branched out across the city, some in the middle, some scattered around the outskirts of the city. Takashi eyes narrowed as he spotted a student below making their way through the gate and towards the main entrance.

"Takashi!"

'Speaking of the devil a few moments ago and she appears, wonder what she's come here for this time.'

Takashi let out a sigh and looked down before closing his eyes before summoning the mental strength to talk to the pink haired girl, opening his eyes, Takashi leaned back and stood up straight as he looked over his shoulder and towards the stairway. Saya Takagi slowly walked down the flight of stairs with a platonic expression plastered across her face.

"Of course, you would be here, too easy to predict after all, maybe you should try finding somewhere new to hide away."

Saya crossed her arms as she narrowed her eyes at Takashi who also stared back at her with the same simplistic expression, Takashi chuckled lightly before looking up the stairs and towards the door for a few moments. Making sure no one was watching their conversation; Takashi raised his eyebrow at the pink haired girl as she waited for a response from him.

"I wouldn't say I'm hiding away, far from it actually today, just not feeling the atmosphere of the academy today." Takashi turned around and looked towards the various facilities that the students used for physical activities, such as swimming for example.

"Please Takashi, save me the extra details, you have been doing it since that situation with Rei happened, to be quite up front... I'm not too sure how you are still clawing for her affection." Saya laughed at Takashi's attempt at lying to her, after all, Saya knew Takashi since they were kids so she was easily able to pick apart when her friend was lying.

"I'm not clawing for her affection as much as you think, you know."

Takashi turned around and leaned on the bars that steadied him from falling off, Saya laughed lightly and turned around slightly as she found Takashi to be acting ridiculous.

"If that's not the case, why spend the majority of break up here, thinking about her and wondering where it all went wrong?" Saya smirked as she asked a question, she knew Takashi could not avoid, she knew Takashi too well to know that Rei was on his mind, majority of the time anyway.

"Again, not as much as you think, I use this spot I found recently to get peace with myself, most of the time anyway, I cannot deny that Rei has been on my mind, you are too good at reading me after all... but it does not mean she is the one constantly on my mind." Takashi confessed to the pink haired girl that he had known for a long time now, Saya was caught slightly off guard by Takashi's explanation.

"O-Oh? Who have you also been thinking about? What girl is it this time that has caught your attention?" Saya blushed lightly as she imagined Takashi had been thinking about her, she wasn't entirely wrong either. Takashi raised his eyebrows for a few moments as he thought about answering her question.

"Well... girls haven't been the only thing on my mind, I've been thinking about what happens after we finish our exams and finish school entirely? what happens after we all part ways and go off onto our own lives? Well, I do have to admit that I have also thought about you as well." Instead of carrying his usual demeanour, Takashi turned around slightly and smiled at the pink haired girl.

Saya began to blush lightly as she found Takashi's smile to be rather enrapturing. Saya pouted and looked the other way as she couldn't keep her eye contact on Takashi.

"W-W-Well! If it makes you f-feel b-better! I planned o-on finding a way to make s-sure we keep communication with each other!" Saya stuttered as she struggled to keep the blush spreading across her face from showing, Takashi's eyes began to widen as he realised that he found Saya to be adorable.

"Really? I know I don't say this often... but thank you Saya, I appreciate it and appreciate you, more than I let it to appear to be." Takashi's smile began to grow wider as his warm smile was aimed at Saya and no one else. Saya could feel Takashi's gaze on her which caused her to blush more as her mind went into overdrive.

Not knowing how to take all of it in, Saya turned around from Takashi and gripped both of her cheeks using the palm of both of her hands, her eyes widened as she realised, she was showing that she was embarrassed.

'Goddamit... he's probably going to figure out if I continue to act like this, I need to change where this conversation is going to lead...'

Saya couldn't help but worry about the conversation leading to her secrets spilling out to her childhood friend.

"Prove it."

"Huh?"

Takashi raised his eyebrow in confusion as he didn't understand what Saya meant, turning around to face her friend, a light pink blush was still spread across her face as she faced Takashi.

"You said you appreciate me... right?"

"Yes...?"

"Prove it." Saya placed her hands on her lips and waited for Takashi to respond, her eyes narrowed and her expression remained neutral as the pink haired girl refused to break character.

"... How am I supposed to prove my appreciation again?" Takashi looked clueless as he couldn't think of any ways to prove himself to his pink haired friend in-front of him. A part of him was left confused about Saya's motivations behind her asking him such a question.

A part of Saya wanted to go for it, she bit her lip as she felt the growing feeling to throw all thoughts aside and do something even, she did not expect herself to do, letting out a breath, Saya focused on what was in-front of her instead of giving into her own desires.

"... How about this? After classes, you take me out to eat?" Saya crossed her arms and used her hand to re-adjust the glasses she was wearing. Saya waited patiently as Takashi thought about it for a few moments.

"Wouldn't you be busy? Surely you have better things to do than spend time with some loner like me?" Takashi asked Saya two similar questions, Saya rolled her eyes in response and narrowed her eyes at Takashi.

"Surely you will be busy yourself? Maybe spending time being a loner is much more suited to you than rather than hanging out with a friend that actually wants to hang out with you." Saya threw back a similar question back at Takashi which made him chuckle slightly.

"Did you say that you actually want to hang out with me? What changed?" Takashi wore a confused expression as he became conscious of time escaping the two, he knew that classes were around the corner and he was waiting for the inevitable bell to ring.

"I did not! Do not assume such things! You said you want to show me your appreciation...right?" Saya stared at the older boy, Takashi rolled his eyes as he realized their conversation was going in a loop.

"I did... fine, we can hang out after school, if that makes you happy?" Takashi looked down and pushed his sleeve a little to check on the time currently.

'Classes begin in one minute... she will be late to hers and I'll inevitably be late to mine... and If that happens, we will both get in trouble... in more ways than one, better let her know before our conversation goes anywhere else."

"If it has to be today then so be it, what is your final period so I know when to come and meet you?" Saya asked her childhood friend with curiosity lacing within her tone.

Saya wondered in her thoughts about what they 'could' get up to later on in the day, after school finished and they were free to hang out. Takashi held his finger up as he reached for his pockets for his phone, to check what lessons he had next and what time he would finish. Saya waited patiently as she looked towards the facilities to their right, many of the sports were beginning to walk off their area's as they finished their lesson for the day.

Biting her lip, Saya realised that she was going to be late for her lesson, Saya started to tap her foot onto the ground anxiously as she tried to keep her patience.

"Ah yes, I have maths with Hisashi and Rei soon, then finish the day off with Biology until three thirty in the afternoon." Takashi turned his phone to show to the pink haired girl.

"Slight problem, you finish earlier than me by an hour due to swimming lessons... want to cancel our rendezvous for now...?" a big part of Saya did not want to cancel the plans they had just made; it had been a while since she was able to hang out with Takashi and she did not want it to get ruined any time soon.

"Nah... didn't you say I was a loner right? Standing around and waiting is pretty much what I do anyway, I can wait a while." Takashi replied before rubbing his eyes in attempts to wake himself up slightly.

'Thank god... WAIT! What am I thanking GOD for?!'

"I see, well I have swimming classes next as I mentioned previously, once you have finished classes, stop by and wait around, I'll convince Ms Brooks to let you watch us swim for the hour." Saya replied as she let out a breath of relief, unbeknownst to Takashi who fiddled with putting his phone back into his pocket.

(All students, please make your way to your next lesson, I repeat, please make your way over to your next lesson.)

Hearing the announcement, Takashi let out a sigh as he and Saya made eye contact for a few moments before Takashi gestured for her to go ahead. Saya walked up the small flight of stairs with Takashi following behind her as the pair began to think about their next up and coming lessons.

'Great... a lesson with those two again, just what I need... at least I no longer have to witness them being all lovey dovey whilst walking home.'

Takashi scoffed secretly at the thought before he held the door open for the pink haired girl and himself to walk through. Saya nodded and turned her head towards him to look him in the eye.

"Thanks."

"No problem, I'll be on my way... I'll see you at your classes."

"See you later, Takashi."

Saya turned around and headed down a separate hallway from him as he took a right towards his own class instead. Takashi couldn't help but wonder what they could get up to after school, he realised that they did not discuss it properly beforehand.

'Well for now we move, focus on getting math's out of the way first, then biology and then I can allow myself to think about what we can do after.'

With that, Takashi continued to walk down the long corridor as hundreds of students began flooding into the building through the various different entrances and exits scattered around the entirety of the school. Takashi could only think about what could happen from now.

"Goddamit... How did I get myself into such a situation again...?"

A woman with dark purple hair and fiery red eyes asked herself the question, although she asked herself the question, she did not know the answer. Her tanned skin began to glisten with sweat as she sat down and leaned against the wall next to her, unzipping the jumpsuit she wore, the woman let the hot air building underneath her clothes out. The woman wore a pained expression as she realized the situation, she was in.

'Think Rika Minami... you followed those two students all those days ago... they were definitely from Fujimi Academy, which means they might know what happened to Shizuka... there's a slight chance she could have made it out and those two knew about it... or at least they could put me at ease as they would have known the situation occurring there at the time.'

Rika Minami thought to herself as she allowed herself to analyse the situation, she witnessed mere days ago, Rika wasn't entirely sold on the idea that her friend, Shizuka Marikawa was dead, she had reasons to believe that she was still alive, Rika had been committed to find out the truth behind her relentless searches for the truth.

'The academy is crawling with those zombies or whatever the news has been calling them, not that it matters, there is no news to report anyway, half the world is being wiped out as we speak, better yet it could already be wiped out...'

Rika let out a sultry smile as she allowed herself to rest against the wall for once, she had been through a roller coaster of adventures since she had witnessed her forces be killed, thinking back on it, Rika realised that she barely made it out of the chaos that was happening at the time. Rika let out a laugh as thought about how she was going to go about for the next few days.

'Those students haven't left that building yet... they have all rights to, from the outside view, that place is pretty much a safe haven for anyone left alive... has gates separating the house from the streets... has enough room for a group to live there... the question is... was it just that pink haired girl and that boy living there? Or is there more living in that house?'

Rika over the last few days, had seen no signs of life inside the house as the windows were now boarded up and the building, they were currently staying in was at an odd angle for her to get a glimpse into, not only that, but Rika had to take into account about the several missed chances she had missed from searching in other places instead.

Rika considered taking a shot into the windows of the building where the two students were currently staying in, but instead she decided to refrain as she knew it was a very stupid idea to do, she was well aware that attention would be split between her and the students she saw days ago, the zombies would most likely invade the compounds of the large building she was staying in and the building where the pink haired girl and the boy stayed.

Most of all for Rika, it would ruin any chances of her finding out whether her friend was still alive, she vowed to find out no matter what.

'This waiting game is getting very boring, if I see no action from those students in the next day or so... I find a way into the premises and find out myself... maybe they used or found some sort of back up exit and left already? Most likely not... that Humvee is still there after all, why would they leave without it? It would be a silly move by them.'

Rika highly doubted they had left, she had done a full check around the area that she and those students were in, she almost knew for definite that the only way they could escape is by the front entrance, however Rika was also aware that the students did not need to leave in the first place, although she considered the fact that one point their food stock would run out.

Until then Rika either had to hold off and wait for them to make a move or make a move herself, with her patience growing thinner, she became more tempted to find her answers sooner rather than later so, she could be done with finding her close friend.

'I may have to abandon this outpost soon; food is running low for the first time... I may have to do what those kids did and go scavage for extra food within the city... with how quickly this apocalypse happened... food is practically everywhere, so I do not have to worry about finding a source of food in the first place, zombies are beginning to spread throughout the city, instead of standing in the central part of it instead... meaning less available options to move around. Just great.'

The room Rika was sat in was a spacious room, the windows were boarded up save for a little who which Rika used her sniper rifle scope to get a lookout into the outside world, the only source of light came from a lantern in the middle of the big room and the light that would soon disappear from the small crack in-between the boards that were stopping the sun from glaring into the room.

Rika had set up a mini camp of some sort with a portable grill a few feet away from her, food could be cooked using it whenever, a dark green sleeping bag a few feet to her right and a small wooden TV that was placed on boxes in front of the sleeping bag, Rika mostly used the TV on the bare minimum volume as she wanted to put something on the TV using discs, to stop herself from going insane.

The main door that was a few meters away from her, was boarded up with wood and the ground next to it looked as if it had been tinkered with, the wooden pallets in the ground had been messed with slightly to stop any zombies from reaching her in case of an emergency, meaning that the zombies would fall straight through the floor without Rika having the fear of death being put into her.

'I predict that those students from Fujimi academy sooner than later, will leave the house. They have to, I would be going insane if I were them, I would at least need to step outside... luckily, I have been fortunate enough to be able to search the premises of this city to keep my mind from slipping into insanity... unless those students are loners, I assume they will feel the effects of isolation by now.'

Rika had alluded to what she had been doing in the meantime whilst scouting out the living quarters of the students that went to the school her friend nursed at, she wanted to use the connection of the students to connect her own theories about her friend or get more clues on whether or not she was still alive.

Rika knew it was wishful thinking, she at least wanted to try as she felt that if she didn't, she would be a bad friend.

'Maybe I'm over reacting in some sense... I wouldn't be surprised; I just hope that you rest in peace Shizuka... if you truly have died to those freaks of nature known as zombies.'

(BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!)

Springing into action, Rika quickly crawled over towards her sniper rifle to check what the noise was outside, her hearing was good enough to tell her that the shots that were being fired were coming from the streets below the building she was staying in.

Moving her eye ever so closer to the scope, she adjusted her weapon so she could check out the hassle going on below her, in the streets. Her face lit up with a surprised expression as she saw multiple men on chopper bikes, they appeared to have come to a standstill, there was a large number of them in the group stood on the streets as zombies approached them from each side.

'The hell? Who the hell are these guys...! They could spook those students if they keep causing noise around here... they better leave before they make the situation escalate...'

Rika had grown increasingly annoyed as she realised her days of waiting could have been for nothing with the bikers stood in the street that separated the students from Rika, the idea of them interrupting everything she had done so far began to leave her with the feeling of being angry. It was a feeling she did not know too much as usually she knew herself to be calm and collected.

'What are they even doing in a place like this? And why come here now of all times... they had plenty of times to announce they were alive before all of this, I even checked several area's in the city, these past few days...'

The purple haired woman continued to watch as one of the members of the group began to pull something out of their rucksack and hand it to another member as the rest dealt with the oncoming waves of zombies that entered the street. A Short haired man pulled out a megaphone from and also handed it to the main man standing next to his bike. The leader continued to look around as he held the mega phone to his lips.

[Well, isn't this interesting... one of our members recently made us aware that there is life within this part of the city, if you think you can just go on with your life in this city after the zombie apocalypse... BOY! Are you wrong!]

Rika watched as the man moved his mouth away from the megaphone as he leaned in to whisper something to a woman dressed in all black. Before returning to hold the megaphone back to his mouth with a smirk across his face.

[I know your listening... you have until tomorrow to surrender and give your lives to us... we will be watching every move that is made within this place... if you decide to be brave and resist...you can say goodbye to your life.]

Rika held her breath as the man that she currently held her scope on made eye contact with her building, she continued to watch the man as the two continued to have a showdown without the man knowing she was there. The man made a vicious grin as Rika could just about hear the man laughing hysterically.

The leader dropped the megaphone in a pool of blood below him and hopped on his chopper bike as he waited for the woman to also hop onto the back, once she did, he began to start up the bike alongside the rest of the group that surrounded him.

(BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG! BANG!)

Rika continued to watch as they continued to fire their gunshots into the air and into the zombies as they made their way through the other end of the street and the end of it, Rika continued to watch them until they were no longer in sight of her to see. After a while, she sat back and let out a breath as she realized how the situation at hand was now.

'I must have stepped into their territory whilst surveying the city in my free time... why can't we humans just get along... we have a situation on our hand that could have been avoided...'

With that, Rika was left with the realizing thought that began to dawn on her, the group of bikers would soon discover the students hiding out in the building across her. Potentially, the bikers could kill the students, ruining any proper chance of her finding out the real truth behind her friend being alive or not.

'my oh my... we have a situation on our hand...'

----

Thank you for reading!

Thanks, guys!

-Kano