- 4 Days before extraction-

You know how they say that fishing is a game of patience? Well, guess who's got the patience of a squirrel on coffee.

"Arrggg! Come on you stupid! BITE!" Saya shouts as she forcefully yanks the fishing line off the water. I glance at the fuming girl as she keeps trying to 'fish'.

(The world is really working against our pinkette here, isn't it. In the end, we decided not to explain 'how' to fish. And Saya, as luck would have it, or un-luck in her case. Managed to catch a single fish by accident, by yanking the hook up and stabbing it near the pelvic fins. So now she keeps trying the same method, with no success.)

I then glanced at the fish bucket, looking at the four fish that were inside.

(Hitomi managed to catch two, Saeko also caught one, and that's about it. Now, as there are four of us, we decided to catch one more fish. In order to break the tie between Saeko and Saya. Thus why 'somebody' is freaking out…)

Before turning back to my binoculars, I looked towards Saeko. who as expected, was as calm as always…

(Still, Saya freaking out like this. I didn't realize she didn't want to lose that badly…)

I smile slightly as I turn to focus back on the roads in the distance. And speaking of roads, with them all being uphill, meant I could only see 'our' side of the hill.

(In the end, we'll have to go blind. Guess we'll just pick the cleaner looking road that's closest to a straight drive toward the extraction point.)

Just as I let out a small sigh, Saeko yanks the fishing line up. A single fish flailing on the fishing line's end.

"Looks like I wi…" Yet, before Saeko could finish her sentence, the fish 'unhooks' itself and falls back into the water. Then starts swimming around the boat erratically.

"Looks like you didn't." Saya responds with a smirk as she turns to the purple-haired girl and narrows her eyes. Saeko then got up, and drew her sword…

(Uhh…)

Then, with a quick stab, she plunges half of her blade into the water. Lifting her sword right after, the fish she caught moments ago flailing on the edge of her blade…

"Does this count as a catch?" She asks as she turns to me, the whole group looking at her like idiots…

"Uhh, haven't you been stabbing corpses with that thing? You know we can't eat that now, right?" I 'ask' as I keep staring at Saeko.

"That might be true, but the challenge was to catch the fish, was it not?" She asks back with a smile as she tilts her head.

"That's cheating, we're supposed to fish normally." Saya responds as she folds her arms and frowns.

"Then, a draw?" Saeko asks once again.

"Cheating should be punished, you must forfeit one fish." Saya says with a demanding tone.

"That should be a decision to be made from one who is not part of this challenge." Saeko responds, and turns to look at me. Saya also turning to look at me shortly after…

"Uhhh…" I lift my binoculars to my eyes and start 'looking' through them…

(I'm the price, I can't have a vote in this. Yea, way too 'high horse' to actually say…)

"I know you can hear us idiot. Don't try to wiggle yourself out of this." Saya says as she puts away the fishing line. Then leans towards me and starts poking my shoulder.

(Uhh. fine, but as I already told em, making a decision that hurts one and benefits the other is a no go. So.)

"Tis a tie then. Now both of you have to give up your spot for a day." I respond flatly as I keep looking through the binoculars.

"What…" Saya leans back and frowns even more.

"That's just stupid, make a better decision." She adds right after as she folds her arms.

"You could give your spot to each other then, you already lost it. Sooo…" I say with a slight shrug.

Saya groans and turns to look towards the beach, her arms still folded. Saeko just giggled slightly and sat down, then wiped her sword with the cuff of her shirt.

"I didn't bring anything to clean my sword. Once we are done here, may I ask that we return to the house?" She asks as she sheaths her blade.

"We are pretty close to the end of the beach, the mansion is also near the end of the landmass…" I respond and turn to look at the textbook on the page where I had marked the roads that looked clear enough from here.

"Yea, let's start heading back. We still need to cook these after all." I nod as I point at the bucket with the fish. Saeko nods back at me with a slight smile.

"Good, because they're already starting to stink." Saya sighs as she pinches her nose and turns to look at the bucket.

"Gahh! My hands smell like fish!" She then shouts as she winches and backs away from her own hand. All the while I was trying not to choke myself from holding my own breath, hell knows I would have one angry Saya on me if I started laughing now. With that, I rowed back towards our 'house'...

And upon reaching the cement block that thinks itself a pier, we got off the boat and headed back into the house's backyard. The three dead guys from Hitomi's previous 'group' piled up to the right…

"Umm, Mister Naier…" Just as we started to head towards the garage door, Hitomi spoke up…

(Mister? God, really now?)

"Just Naier is fine" I respond as I stop and turn around. Hitomi nods slightly, then turns to glance at her three 'friends'.

"You said you wanted to check something. But…" She lowers her head and stops talking.

"Yea, Saeko, Hitomi can you please go and deal with the fish? Saya, I need you with me." I respond as I nod and turn to look at the girls, folding my arms as I speak.

"Very well, you want us to cook them too?" Saeko asks as she walks up to me and extends her arm, taking the bucket with the fish from me.

"Yea, if we're not back by the time you're done. Call us, we will be here or the front." I say as I keep looking at Saeko, who nods back at me in response before entering the house with Hitomi. I then walked up to Saya, who was waiting a little further down with her arms folded.

"Saya, hold on to this and wait here, I'm going to get my, uhh. Sword." I say as I give her the textbook and the pen, she just tilts her head questionably.

"What are we going to do?" She asks as I turn around and start walking towards the garage.

"Science!" I blurt out with a dramatic flair as I dart one arm to the air and point towards the sky.

After going into the garage, and then back into the main room. I went to the main table and got my new sword, then glanced at Saeko and Hitomi. Who were inside the kitchen, their backs turned to me, the faucet open next to them. What seemed to be fish tails sticking out from the sink.

"After we bleed out the fish, take two of them, I will prepare the other two. I will just have to leave you alone for a short bit in the meantime to clean my sword." I heard Saeko say as she turned to Hitomi, who just nodded in silence.

(They don't seem to realize I'm here. Well, all the doors were open so I didn't really make any noise.)

I give Saeko one last glance and turn to leave the room.

"Naier, do you want any herbs with your fish?" I hear Saeko ask the moment I turn my back to her.

"Anything that ain't spicy." I respond as I let out a small chuckle and exit the room.

(So much for not getting spotted.)

And so, I headed back out, to find Saya staring at the three dead dudes.

"Alright. Are you ready?" I ask as I walk up to her. Causing her to turn to me, her arms folded.

"Are you going to tell me what I am supposed to be ready for? Or I need to guess?" She responds as she takes a rather smug expression. Her lips curving in a one-sided smirk as she arches an eyebrow.

"We are checking how the bodies outside will react to the bodies inside." I respond as I walk up to her, then grab the blond one by the leg, and start walking towards the front yard. One hand holding the dead body, the other hand holding the sword.

(I left these three here to check whether the corpses would react to the smell. And from what I see, their smell might be as good as their sight. Because the back of the house is as empty as ever.)

"The blond one, Sho or what's hi…"

"The staring pervert." Saya cuts me off as I start speaking.

"That. The bullets that hit his face were all around the left part of his face, mostly his cheek. Meaning his spine and brain should be 'intact'. " I respond as we keep walking.

"I want to check if a 'dead' person can become a corpse, and if so, if it's only bites that do so." I add as we reach the front. Where I let go of the dead body's leg and walk towards the front metal door.

"I need you to make some noise, and keep making noise after I open the door. Because I'm slamming it shut the moment one of them gets inside, meaning it will turn to me if you ain't loud enough." I turn to Saya as I stop by the door, who just stared at me with a blank expression.

"W, wait." She stammers as she takes a couple of steps back, then turns around and runs back into the house through the front door…

(Uhh...ok?)

I tilt my head, then turn to look at the sword.

"Hmm, the sheath has a single ring on it to pass through the belt, I will need to tie it with a second belt or cloth, it'll be dangling around way too much if I leave it like this." I draw the sword and leave the sheath by the cement wall next to the door that led to the road, then kick the door. The rattling sound causing a couple of the corpses from the other side of the road to turn towards me.

"Ok I'm ready." Just then, Saya runs back out. A pan in one hand, a metal ladle in her other. I glance at her and nod, then sidestep behind the metal door as I open it.

I lift my hand and motion Saya to wait. She didn't respond. Just stood there like a statue with a serious expression…

(Ok, after one gets in, and if Saya won't mess up. I'll stab it through the back if its neck, I want to see if the rest of the body will keep functioning with the spinal cord severed.)

And just on cue, a single corpse strolls through the door. I turn to Saya and make a thumbs up, she responds by starting to slam the ladle on the pan, squinting her eyes as she leaned her head away from the noise. I nod as I turn to the door, giving it a strong kick as a second corpse was about to enter, causing the door to slam on the corpse, which then stumbled backward as the door slowly started to open back up. Using my boot, I push the door again, this time making it close completely. I then quickly bolt it shut and turn to the lone corpse as I step away from said door.

The corpse was still with it's back turned to me, creeping slowly towards Saya, who was still making a racket. I nod and lift the sword next to my head, using my free hand to 'balance' the blade by letting it rest on the back-side of my hand. And with a step towards the corpse, I stab forward. The blade piercing the back of the corpse's neck. With the blade still in my hand, I throw a strong stomp flat on the corpse's back. Causing it to fall flat on the ground, and remain down, unmoving.

"Is it dead?" Saya asks as she stops hitting the ladle on the pan, leaning slightly towards the unmoving corpse.

"Dono." I respond as I kick it a couple of times.

Seeing no response, I grab its arm as I put my boot on its shoulder. Then lift its arm and push it forward, up to the point where I felt resistance as it's shoulder could not twist any further. I then lean back, and with a strong push. I yank the arm forward, dislocating its arm with a 'cracking' sound. Saya winces and turns her head away the moment she heard the sound.

"Ugghh, warn me next time you do stuff like that." She groans as she turns to me with a frown.

"Sorry." I respond as I walk over the corpse and pull it by the now dislocated arm, turning it to face the sky.

"Uh. Is it…"

"Biting the air? Yes it is." I cut off Saya as I keep looking at the corpse's face. A constant 'clicking' noise coming from its mouth as it kept biting the air…

"Well, this is proof it needs nerves to function" I add up as I back away.

"Ok, let's see." With the still bloody tip of my blade, I walk up to Sho's body, and stab it at the chest.

"First, if blood infects." I add as I pull the blade out and back off.

"Uhh, Naier, a dead body has no blood flow, even if it does infect. Infected blood needs to circulate to where the infection can actually act. If the heart is not that point, then it won't react." Saya walks up to me and points at my blade with the pan, then at the dead body.

"Hmm, makes sense. But I don't want to stab his brain, I'd rather check something else if it's this or that." I nod and grab the dead body by the leg, then drag it to the biting corpse.

I then take Sho's head and push it against the corpse's mouth…

"Oh Saya, I'm going to..." I turn to Saya, to see her already looking away…

Another cracking sound, and Sho's body now had a visible bite mark right behind his ear. I nod and pull the body away, then leave it and walk away.

"Now, we wait." I add as I go by the house's front steps and sit down. Saya silently follows to sit next to me.

"You won't sheath the sword?" She asks the moment she sits down.

"I need to clean it first." I respond.

(I want to ask Saeko about that, but I'm not going to tell her that, knowing her she will get grumpy if I say I need Saeko's help. Also, she's really not going to bring any of this up? I mean, don't think a 'normal' person would calmly do 'this'. Then again, I've done worse, and she knows about it.)

"I see. Uhh, you think it will work? I mean Sho's body getting infected." Saya asks again.

"Dono, hope not. If 'it' can actually revive dead bodies, it's going to be way harder for everybody to deal with this." I answer.

"Huumm, I thought you didn't care about the rest of the world." Saya says as she turns to me with a slight smirk.

"I don't, but I can't take Japan back from brain munching corpses by myself. And, I can't take you out on a date with corpses roaming about in the streets now can I?" I respond as I turn to Saya. Her eyes going wide for a few seconds as her cheeks start to flush. She then turns to look away.

"No mask." She mumbles as she keeps looking away.

"What?" I ask as I tilt my head.

"You're not allowed to wear this stupid mask on our date…" She mumbles again.

"Alright. Is that enough for compensation then?" I 'ask' with a slight chuckle.

"...Only if the date turns out to be unforgettable." Saya responds as she turns to me with a blushing, yet serious face.

"Deal." I answer as I lightly laugh though my nose. Then turn to look at Sho's body…

(Awesome I got a date with Saya. All I have to do now is get rid of all the corpses, and not die. Heh, now back to a more realistic task. Sho's body should turn pretty fast, seeing how everybody turned with the flick of the wrist in the school. Longest one to turn was Hisashi, but he showed symptoms pretty fast. Without an immune system to fight back, a corpse should get taken over pretty fast. Or, not get taken over at all. If for example whatever this is 'needs' the immune system to spread, or flowing blood.)

We then sat in silence. Though Saya was constantly glancing around, twiddling her thumbs and looking overly restless, the pan and ladle on her thighs…

And soon, I noticed another thing, a smell. A smell of cooked fish.

(Oh damn. I must be really hungry, because I was never a fish eater. But right now this smells amazing.)

"Hey, wait a minute…" I hear Saya speak up. Turning to her, I find her staring intensely at me with a slight frown.

"We said no mask in safe spots." She adds as she pokes my mask a single time.

"You call a place that had a bunch of rapists inside safe?" I ask as I tilt my head.

"As you said. Had." She responds as she folds her arms and leans towards me, the frown still on her face…

I was about to open my mouth, when the door behind us opened. Saeko appearing behind it.

"The food is ready." She says as she turns her sight towards Sho's body, and the corpse that was still, biting air.

"Ok, I'll go clean up the sword and join you all then." I respond as I get up.

"Very well, let me give you a lint-free cloth to wipe the blade after you are done." Saeko says as she nods at me and turns around, heading towards the garage.

After she returned from the garage with a small napkin, she gave it to me and gave me some info on how to clean the blade. I then headed to the bathroom on the second floor. There, I used a random towel with some water to clean the blade, before wiping it with the napkin Saeko gave me.

After cleaning the blade, I glance at the mirror, seeing my reflection.

"They really don't like it huh. Me wearing a mask." I say to nobody in particular.

"Well, I like wearing it. That's reason enough for me. But well, I'm going to eat now so..." I pull off my mask and balaclava, then pass them over to my shoulder like a shoulder pad.

"Let's go." I nod slightly and head back down to the first floor.

"I'm going to get the sheath." I say as I walk towards the exit, all three girls following me with their heads, not saying a thing…

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

Once out, I head next to the door and pick the sheath, then put the sword back inside it. As I start to move towards the house, I glance at Sho's body. Still as dead as ever.

(If he is not up after we're done eating, I'll count it as bodies not getting infected after they die. Maybe Saya is right, without circulation this thing can't get to the brain, where I suspect the thing festers. Or, it actually needs a live host to kill and reanimate.)

Walking back to the house, I close the door behind me and head to the table, the girls already waiting for me there.

"Sorry for the hold up." I say as I walk up next to the table.

"It is alright, come, before it gets cold." Saeko responds with a smile as she pushes the plate next to her towards me.

I nod and take a seat…

(It actually has the swiss knife here instead of chopsticks. Saeko prepared this? Doubt Hitomi knows I'd rather use a fork.)

And so, after a short silence. We started eating. This time, without any 'lessons' from Saya to Saeko on how to hand-feed somebody. After a rather uneventful lunch, Saeko and Hitomi brought the dishes to the sink. We also decided to take at least one more plate with us, what with Hitomi being with us now.

I then returned back to the front to find Sho's body still as dead and unmoving as ever, the other corpse also seemed to have given up on chomping air and was just laying there.

(Hmm, is it dead or just waiting for something to poke it?)

I walk behind the 'alive' corpse and lightly kick it in the back of its head. And it instantly starts chomping air again.

(Nope, still alive. But without the spinal cord, it can't move.)

I back away and turn to the door that now had a couple of corpses sticking their arms out through the gaps.

(Saya's racket probably attracted them. Well no matter, we'll be leaving soon.)

I nod and head back into the house. Inside, Saya was sitting by the table, looking at her textbook. Saeko and Hitomi were by the kitchen.

"We have something left to do here?" I ask as I keep looking at the girls.

"We are done." Saeko replies as she turns to me.

"It must be about noon now, the sun will go down in seven to eight hours. You think we can make it to the mansion in one go? Because if we fail to do so, we'll end up at a location we know nothing about in the middle of the night." Saya lifts her head and looks at me as she speaks.

"We still have four days before they leave. Rushing will only endanger us more." She adds as she lowers her head, focusing on the textbook again.

"So we stay here and leave tomorrow? We're going to need another dynamite if so, corpses are banging by the front yard's door." I ask as I turn to glance towards the front door.

"We still have a surplus of dynamite. More than enough to spare." Saya replies as she keeps looking at a page for a few seconds, before closing the textbook and getting up with a stretch.

"I see." I nod and turn to Saeko, who after seeing that I was looking at her, glances at the couch…

"I do not mind staying here for today." She adds as she looks back towards me.

"Hitomi, you can lock your room and keep the key." I say as I glance at the new girl.

"I, understand." She responds with a meek nod.

"Can I just, please not have the room I was locked in…" She keeps speaking with her head still lowered.

"You can take the unused one. I'm taking the one I…" I stop talking and glance away.

(Can't say I've slept here before.)

"I'm taking the one where I killed the third one" I 'correct' myself.

"Very well, I'm taking that one as well then." Saeko responds as she tilts her head with a slight smile. Causing Saya to dart her head towards the purple-haired girl.

"H,hey! Today is supposed to be 'my' day!" She shouts as she turns her hands into fists and flings them next to her hips. Slightly stomping her foot to the ground.

"Yes, but we both lost our spot after we tied, didn't we?" Saeko 'asks' with a calm expression as she turns to the fuming pinkette.

"Or you don't want to trade after all? We will both lose like that though." She 'asks' again as she tilts her head...

"Ughh. Fine…" Saya groans as she turns to look away, folding her arms in obvious annoyance.

"Ok, one more dynamite then." I add as I turn towards the garage.

After going to the car, I unlock it and grab a stick of dynamite, along with the new crossbow and two of its bolts. Then head out to the front yard, cock the crossbow, put the bolt on it, aim at Sho's head, and fire. The bold getting lodged into his skull with a relatively loud thud.

"Uhh, let's see" I kneel down and place my knee over the body's neck, then grab the part of the bolt that was still protruding, and pull…

The bolt, while moving about, did not come off. I tilt my head and start twisting the bolt slightly, pulling it at the same time, until finally. It came off, with a sound I'd rather not describe..

"Alright…" I get up and cock the crossbow again. Placing the same bolt on the crossbow, I aim at the 'bitting' head, and pull the trigger again. Another loud thud, and the head stops moving for good. Placing my knee on its neck as well, I grab the bolt and pull it…

This time, other than that the bold was deeper in the skull, it came off rather fast, actually breaking off part of the skull.

"Well, that proves that corpses have weaker bones." I clean the bolt on Sho's shirt, then leave it, along with the crossbow on the ground.

"Now." I take dynamite from my pocket, light it up, and toss it over the door. While waiting for it to blow up, I grab both dead bodies by the leg, one with each hand.

And the moment the explosion went off, I headed to the door. Once the corpses had turned around and walked away. I silently opened the door and dragged the bodies outside, then left them and got back inside the house, giving one last glance at the corpses around the street.

(These explosions are bringing way to many of them here. Thankfully we can leave from the back gate, and they are not on 'our' side of the road.)

Closing the door behind me, I head back into the house. And after cleaning the bolt in the first-floor bathroom and leaving it in the car along with the crossbow. I returned to the main room, where the other three girls were at, all sitting by the giant table.

"Well, now what?" I ask as I also sit by the table.

"Hmm. Good question…" Saeko responds as she tilts her head slightly, looking at the table in though.

"Umm, the three guys, they found a couple of board games while we were waiting…" Hitomi speaks up as she glances at us.

"Board games? Well, that doesn't sound bad actually." I say as I fold my arms and arch an eyebrow.

"I'll bring them." Hitomi answers back as she nods. Getting up from her chair and heading up to the second floor…

"Board games hmmm?" Saya turns her hand into a fist and places her knuckle on her mouth, looking at Saeko with a slight smirk.

Saeko on the other hand just smiled back at Saya as she closed her eyes and tilted her head.

"Is something on your mind?" Saeko asks.

"Hmm, nothing. It's not like I think it's unfair that you get to sleep with Naier on a normal bed, while I get the sleeping bags." Saya responds plainly.

"Oh?" Saeko just raises an eyebrow as she looks at Saya.

"I don't like ties, so let's have a rematch." Saya adds as she folds her arms.

"Humm, but if what you say is true, I have a better bargaining position than you right now. Why should I accept?" Saeko responds with a smirk. Causing Saya to frown and narrow her eyes.

"I'll give you the win even if we end up with a tie." Saya responds as her face turns serious. Saeko thinks for a bit, then nods.

"Very well." She says with an inconspicuous smile.

(Oh boy…)

And so, we waited. Though we did first switch spots, and by switch, I mean the girls coming to sit next to me.

"What do you think they might have?" Saeko asks as she turns to me.

"No idea, I didn't expect the rich folk here to even have board games to be honest." I respond with a slight shrug.

(I want to say that rich people are usually no fun. But we have Saya here, and she was/is definitely rich.)

"Sorry for being slow" Just then, Hitomi comes down the stairs, on her hands, board games, up to the point that they almost covered her eyes.

I motion the girls to get up, before heading to the girl and taking some of the boxes.

"Thank you" She responds as she looks at me. I nod and turn to leave the box on the table. And soon after, all the board game boxes were laying on said table…

"Soooo. What do we play?" I ask as I tilt my head…

(None of these are familiar to m...ohh?)

My sight stops on two board games that I did know. Pandemic, and Dead of winter?

(A game about a zombie outbreak, or a game about a viral outbreak. In the middle of the zombie apocalypse. I wouldn't go and do something like that, right? Right? Oh who am I kidding, of course I would.)

"These two" I say as I point at the two games…

"Really now?" Saya 'asks' as she turns to me, her eyebrows making a straight line as she stares at me..

"Yep." I respond flatly.

"I'm fine with whatever." Saeko responds.

"Umm, me too…" Hitomi adds up, causing Saya to groan…

"Fine, but pandemic is cooperative only…" The annoyed pinkette adds, then glances at Saeko.

"The other one ain't, if you are willing to backstab people." I say with a slight shrug as I take the manual for the Dead of winter lookalike…

(I'm kind of shooting myself in the foot by playing this game though, I know I won't be able to backstab anybody. There is a difference between antagonizing somebody to protect yourself or somebody you care for. And making them trust you just so you can stab them in the back later…

Still, this one seems to have a couple of differences compared to the game I know. But other than that, it looks the same. One main mission for all. And one personal mission for each player)

"Fine, what do we start with?" Saya asks as she sighs slightly.

"Let's start with this one." Saeko responds as she points at the Dead of winter, aka the one with the backstabbers.

(...Should I be scared?...)

And so, we sat around the table, set the cards, picked a random character as instructed along with our 'secret task', and set the overall 'world' layout…

"Based On what our main objective is. We need to survive for ten days." Saya says as she looks at our main quest…

"Ok, here we go…" I nod and take the first dice roll…

-5 minutes later-

"I locked all the doors, but didn't have enough planks to barricade the left windows." Saya places down a card and turns to look at me.

"I got no planks either, let's just keep one to guard the window." I respond, Saya nods and leaves one of her two characters by the window.

-15 minutes later-

"I got the handgun, I can deal with two of them. Then, we can enter the house." I say as I point at the house marked as 'target'.

"But the sound, you will be trapped there. I will come with you." Saeko says as she places her character next to mine.

"As you wish." I respond.

-25 minutes later-

"The horde will change direction if we activate the south alarm." Hitomi points at the south part of the 'safehouse' as she speaks.

"Don't be stupid, that will bring everything here." Saya replies.

"But you have better defenses than this house, if they come here, both me and Naier will die." Saeko responds.

"Fine. But only for two rounds…" Saya groans.

-30 minutes later-

"You need to leave the building, it will get overrun on the next round." I point at the house that me and Saeko were in.

"If I leave, you will die." Saeko flatly responds.

"There is a fifty percent chance I can survive a round, that's all I need to set the radio. If you stay, you die." I shake my head and turn to her.

"You bail now. That is not a request." I add as I point at her character.

"Saya can you not keep the alarm on for one more round?" Saeko asks as she turns to Saya, who shakes her head.

"One more round and the safehouse will get overrun. No can do." She replies flatly.

"I am not leaving then." Saeko shakes her head and keeps her character in place.

"Yes you are." I instantly respond as I place a card down and move her character away…

-50 minutes later-

"Naier, open the lock. You will get killed if you don't exit the room." Saeko raises her voice as she moves her character next to the room I was in, a card with a locked door icon on it..

"Yea, but with the radio active and one person in the room. We cut the rounds we need to win by three, in other words, we win next round." I respond as I keep the lock card in its place.

" 'We', won't win next round. You will be dead." Saeko speaks back as she tries to open the lock with a dice roll, that she failed spectacularly, seeing as her character sucked at lockpicking…

-55 Minutes later-

"And it's over" I say as the round ends. The room that my character was in, overrun by a shit ton of zombies. To put it in perspective, I needed to make thirteen perfect rolls to survive, I failed at the second one.

"Only one death, not too bad to be honest." I add as I lean back on my chair.

"We still need to check our personal goals, to see who scored the most." Saya places her card on the board.

"I had to have at least three-fourths of all the players alive, seeing as only Naier lost his main character. My goal is complete." Saya continues as she turns to Saeko.

"I had to make sure one character of my choosing survives." She says as she places her card on the board. The character she picked, was mine. In other words.

"You failed." Saya says as she glances at her card, a slight smirk on her face.

"Umm, I had to survive to the end with a surplus of food." Hitomi speaks up next as she places her card down.

"So, that's why you hoarded all the bean soup. Heh, looks like your task is also done" Saya glances at Hitomi's card as she speaks. She then turns to me.

"What about you?" Saya asks as she looks at my card that was still flipped over.

"Uhh, I had to be the only survivor." I say as I turn the card and push it toward the center. Saya's face instantly turning into a disapproving frown.

"What? The way you played was the complete opposite. Did you even look at your card before now?" She asks as she raises an eyebrow and keeps looking at the card.

"I played the way I liked, I didn't want to kill any of you." I responded with a slight shrug.

"So killing yourself, was part of playing how you liked?" Saeko asks with a rather serious expression.

"Uhh, no. But it was this, or all of you dying. The horde would have turned to the safehouse before three rounds had passed." I answered as I turned to Saeko. She stayed quiet for a few seconds, looking at the card with my personal quest.

"I am going to take a short break." She says right after, getting up from the table and leaving towards the front yard…

(...'This' I did not expect...)

"Uhh give me a second" I also get up from my chair as I look at Saya and Hitomi, both of them just glance at me and nod. I then head towards the front door that Saeko had just used to exit the room.

Upon opening the front door, I find Saeko with her back turned to me, her arms folded and looking towards the front yard door.

"Did it really bother you this much?" I ask as I walk up next to her, closing the door behind me.

Saeko lowers her head slightly, but does not turn to look at me.

"I am sorry. It is just that…" She raises her head as she keeps looking towards the front door.

"All this felt a bit, too real. Considering our circumstances." She adds.

"Uhh, you have a point there…" I glance at the gate before turning back to Saeko.

"Sorry, I didn't intend to make you feel distraught." I say as I place my hand on her shoulder. Saeko shakes her head and smiles slightly.

"No, don't apologize. I just got a bit too engrossed in the game. It is silly of me to act like this because of it" She says as she turns to me, her arms still folded and her head still lowered.

(Yet you're doing a great job at making me feel even more guilty about it.)

I slide my hand from her shoulder to her back, and pull her to me. Then wrap my other hand around her.

"I got no intention of leaving you." I whisper as I keep hugging her.

I felt her arms moving as she 'unfolded' them from under her chest, then slowly wrapping them around my sides and to my back. She then lifts her head And without speaking, presses her lips against mine. She then pulls her head back after a couple of seconds, her cheeks having a deep blush on them.

"Why do I get the feeling that this was what you were after for from the get-go?" I 'ask' as I arch an eyebrow and tilt my head with a slight smirk. Saeko smiles and closes her eyes.

"I really, was not. But, it is not an outcome that I want to complain about." She responds as she opens her eyes and tightens her arms around me.

"And well, there's this other thing…" I say as I glance away. Causing Saeko to inquiringly look at me.

"How can I gloat that the girl in my arms was voted as the sexiest in my school if I'm dead?" I add with a slight chuckle as I turn to her. Causing Saeko to blink at me a couple of times before closing her eyes with a slight giggle.

"You really don't don't come off as a person who would gloat." She responds as she opens her eyes with a smile.

"Uhh, yea. You're not really wrong about that. But saying that I don't gloat. It's like gloating that I don't gloat." I glance away again as I turn my head with a one-sided smile. Saeko just laughed though her nose in response.

"Let's go inside?" I ask. Saeko nods slightly and lets go of me as she takes a step back.

"I guess I can leave Saya to have the win for today…" She says as she glances away.

"Although, I was really looking forward to tonight after switching spots with her." She adds as she keeps looking away with a slight smile.

"Now you are just trying to guilt-trip me." I respond as I fold my arms. Saeko laughed lightly before turning to me.

"Let us go back inside. I know of somebody that would get very pouty if I keep you for myself for too long" Saeko responds as she turns towards the door and walks up to it, turning to me as she places her hand on the knob.

"And, thank you. I, really needed that." She adds as she opens the door, walking inside the room…

I turn to look towards the corpses outside on the road before going inside the room as well. After that, we decided to switch to the other board game, the 'pandemic' lookalike.

Thankfully, as this one was fully cooperative, we had no 'events' during playing. And, we ended up playing, for a rather long time. Up to the point that the sky was starting to lose its color…

-Several world-ending failures later-

"Yaaawwn…" Saya puts her hands over her mouth as she stretches, then rubs her eyes while lifting her glasses with one hand.

"Tired?" I ask.

"We have been playing for what must have been hours by now. I do feel a bit sluggish." Saya responds with a slight nod as she opens her eyes and turns to me.

"Should we call it a day? The sooner we go to sleep, the sooner we'll leave tomorrow." I ask as I look at the girls.

"Yes, the sooner we reach that extraction, the better." Saeko responds.

"Well, let's pack up then. I'm going to check the car and the gates." I nod as I get up, the girls nodding back in response.

"I am going to boil some water." Saya says as she also gets up.

"Boil water?" Hitomi asks as I leave the room.

First, I checked the car, making sure that all the doors were locked. After that I checked the back gate, then the back garage door. After that I checked the front gate and yard door, then the house's front door and front garage door.

(Ok everything is locked, let's go.)

I nod and enter the main room. The girls gathered by the couch with the bags, looking at what seemed to be clothes, I guess the ones they would be sleeping in.

"The wardrobe of this couple is really 'fancy'…" Saya mumbles.

"Hmm, is that a bad thing?" Saeko adds as she lifts what seemed to be a see-through black nightgown. Saya casually lifts her head and looks at what Saeko was holding, her face instantly taking a very deep shade of red.

"I, I'm going to wear something from the stuff I brought with me." Saya starts digging through her bag furiously as she pretty much shoves her face in it. Saeko just tilted her head while Hitomi was glancing around at the clothes.

"You'll use the top bathroom?" I ask, causing Saya to slightly jerk her body as she glances at me, probably startled as she had not realized I was in the room.

"Y,yes..." She responds as she turns back to the bag.

"Should we prepare another bottle with hot water?" Saeko asks right after.

"I'm fine with cold water." I answer as I shake my head and start heading towards the stairs.

(While I have the 'Pijamas' I picked from here. Why not use a new set now that I can. Having to wake up in the middle of the night in case of emergency aside. Sleeping half-naked next to Saya. Yea, even I got limits. Though it will be more important on what 'she' will wear. If she pops with that see-through nightgown for example. Uhh, I'm not gonna be held responsible for my actions then...)

With that, I move to 'my' room and grab a set of track pants, a shirt and some underwear. Then head back down, enter the 'study' and head to the bathroom that was in the left far end of the room. Locking the door behind me after entering the bathroom…

"This is the second time Saya gets to sleep with me on that bed huh?" I say to myself as I turn to the mirror.

"At least this time, she won't have to be all sneaky about it…" I chuckle as I start taking off my gear.

After taking a quick bath I wear my new clothes and clean some of my gear. Then exit the bathroom and enter the main room. The girls were nowhere to be found.

(Probably taking a bath, anyway, I should take my toothbrush from my bag.)

I nod and head to the couch, open my bag and pick my toothbrush from inside, my eyes falling on the clothes the girls were looking at, some of them on the chair, others on the couch and a couple of the table.

(I guess it's true what they say about girls and clothes, I just picked the first dark-colored thing I saw.)

I then move back to the bathroom and finish cleaning my gear and whatnot. After finally finishing. I return to the main room, take my bag and head up to the second floor. And judging from the sounds that were coming off from the bathroom, it was obvious where the girls were at.

I start walking towards my room. And realize something important…

(Uhh, the pool of blood is still here…)

I groan and return to the first floor's bathroom, taking a mop.

(Some of it might have dried but, but not much I can do about that.)

I then headed back up to the second floor, entered my room and cleaned the blood. Thankfully, no blood was on the bed and I could not see any visible blood splatter anywhere. None the less I also changed the sheets and blanket for good measure by using new ones from the closet. Then, I casually tossed everything out the window. Broom included. Because why not.

(And that's that.)

I 'wipe' my hands and sit on the bed, before completely lying down and closing my eyes.

(Uhh, where did I leave my clothes? The bathroom? Whatever, they were not dirty, I'll wear them again tomorrow…)

I let out a small sigh as I opened my eyes and start staring at the ceiling.

(We're really lucky these things don't seem to evolve, or mutate, or some other crap. God knows things could be much worse if they started running or climbing like in world war Z. Or start turning into volatiles from Dying light. Ughh, the night is bad enough now that we got no lights. Don't need a bunch of souped-up brain munchers than are weak to uv light that nobody has right now.)

I stayed like that for some time. Until the sound of running water and giggling girls from 'next door' stopped.

(Huh, they sure took their time, it's not like we're on a limited supply of water or something. But whatever, tomorrow at this hour, we should be at the mansion.)

I turn my body and look at the window to my left, the sky now having a deep orange color.

(Because if we're not there by the time the sun is out, we'll be in big trouble.)

And just on cue, I heard my door open. Or well, slightly open. I was able to see the door from the window's reflection without turning to look at it. What else I could also see, other than a half-opened door. Was a head with pink hair poking out from the side…

(What is she doing?)

The door slowly opens, Saya creeping inside, then closing the door behind her. From what I could see, her hair was down and was wearing a silky white, noodle strap nightgown that ended a little under her thighs. She then silently creeps to the edge of the bed, and stays there, staring with her arms folded.

"I know you're not asleep…" Saya says in a low tone. I just keep staring at her through the window's glass…

After a couple of seconds, she puffs her cheeks and pouts. Then closes her eyes and lowers her head, seemingly in thought. Before opening her eyes with a big nod, she then bends her legs as she unfolds her arms and lifts them up to shoulder height. And jumps, landing next to me with her knees, the force strong enough to actually lift me in the air for a second. I remained motionless as I landed back on the bed, ending back in the exact same pose I was before Saya jumped on the bed. I then felt Saya leaning on my right arm with both her hands, turning my head. I find her face now hovering above mine.

"Sup?" I raise an eyebrow as I look at the pouting pinkette.

"Don't sup me idiot." She answers with a frown as she keeps staring at me.

"I demand that you pay attention to me..." She whines, her voice weakening as she glances away.

(Demand it ehh?)

I get up to a sitting position and turn to the 'sulking' girl.

"You got my undivided attention" I respond as I raise an eyebrow and smirk slightly.

"Hum." Was all Saya said as she threw the occasional glance at me, not moving from her spot, or saying anything else.

We then sat there for a couple of minutes, not doing anything…

(Oh fuck it.)

I lean forward and pass my arm around Saya's back. Then lie back down with my arm still around Saya, who 'fell' forward on the right side of my chest with a short yelp.

"W,what are you doing..." She asks with a short whine, but makes no effort to get off me whatsoever.

"Got bored of sitting." I answer flatly as I softly stroke Saya's back.

"Well, I was fine sitting, you didn't have to drag me down with you." She answers back with the same whining voice, her arms still folded under her chest.

"You can get up if you want." I answer as I bring my hand towards her neck, making it disappear under her hair.

"It's too much effort now, because of you." She replies as I feel one of her arms crawling under me, her other arm sliding over my torso and to my back, ending with her hugging me as she gets in a more comfortable position, wrapped her legs around one of mine. After she stopped moving, she let out a heavy sigh…

After a few minutes of silence, I found myself drifting to sleep. Saya occasionally nuzzling her face against me.

"Ughh, I'm going to fall sleep…" She groans as she lifts her head and shakes it.

"Ain't that the point?" I ask as I turn to look at her.

"I don't want to…" She whines as she bumps her head on my chest.

"I'd rather stay awake now. I can sleep in the car…" She adds right after.

"And who's going to be my co-driver?" I ask with a slight chuckle as I bring my hand from her back to her head, and fondle it.

"B,but. I, want to...c..dle" Saya buries her face between her shoulder and me as she finishes her sentence, muffling her sentence.

"You want to do what?" I ask with a one-sided smile.

"...uddle..." She 'answers' with her face still buried.

I put my hands to her sides and 'pull' her up. She groans slightly and wiggles herself until her face is on the pillow next to me. Her eyes wide open, staring right at me.

(Hmm, always though Saya had orange eyes. Seeing them from this close though, they are actually a dark shade of amber…)

"Q,quit staring at me. Idiot." She whispers as she looks away without moving her head.

Without speaking I bring my hand to her cheek, and run my finger on it. Saya takes a short breath as she turns her eyes towards my hand before looking away again. Her cheeks also starting to take a deeper shade of red. She then tightens her arms around me, scooting even closer, her body pressing up against mine, nuzzling her face on my neck. I'm not going to lie. I found myself smiling as I closed my eyes, tightened my arms around Saya. And, as I felt myself falling asleep…

(Uhh. Why does my neck feel, wet?...)