Rein’s original plan, to leave F city, went up in smoke the moment Rein decided to gamble with his life, and watch the sunrise. Originally, he wanted to be far away from crowded areas like this apartment build. Having already cleared out his home on the 16th floor, the teen only had to make it down to parking garage, to pick up his truck and go. But now he knew that wasn’t so easy. The whole building had turned into a death trap. Zombies were now rampaging on each of the twenty floors, making a simple his escape a difficult quest. On the bright side, if he had turned into a zombie, Rein would still be locked in his apartment and not wandering the halls trying to eat people.

Sneaking up behind another zombie, the boy pretended to be a shadow worrier, and lashed out with with his crowbar. With an accurate strike to the head, a sickening crack resounded through the quiet hall. Dead, the zombie fell to the floor motionless. “One hit KO!” Taking a moment to appreciate his own handy work, Rein quietly tip toed down the long hall of the twelfth floor.

Now that he was short on time, Rein’s new plan wasn’t to alert the entire apartment complex of zombies, but rather clear out the few corridors he passed while making his escape. Most of the resident's in the lower floors were still sleeping, and probably wouldn't notice something was wrong until stepping outside, if they made it that far. But because he didn’t have the time to give the same courtesy he gave the others, he decided to take down the one or two undead loitering in the halls. At least now one can stick their head out into the hall without being bitten.

Feeling satisfied with his work, Rein enter the stairwell to head down to the next floor, but stopped when he herd the commotion coming from the floor below.

“Quickly! You’re too slow!” A woman’s voice echoed through the stairwell.

“I’m trying! Just give me a moment to catch my breath. This is my first time doing this, okay!” This one was a male’s voice. The two seemed to be in a hurry.

“Rest later! We have to leave now before things get worse, and be a little quieter next time. Were you trying to wake the whole building?”

Carefully looking over the railing, Rein was able to see two people standing outside the door of the eleventh floor. He couldn’t make out their features though, due to the angle of the stairs.

“Is that really so bad? They deserve to know the world has been taken over by monsters.”

“Right, but once you tell them, who’s going to save you from the panicking mob that will form when they all try to escape?”

As the two bickered, they started to head down stairs. Since they didn’t seem to be running from any monsters, Rein decided to skip the eleventh floor, and fallow behind the other two instead. Seconds after the man and women passed the tenth floor, the door flew open, releasing two struggling bodies into the stairwell. One of which was a zombie.

“What?!”

“Watch out!”

“AhhhhhhH!!!”

The couple quickly stepped back against the wall, watching a man in a yellow shirt get dragged over the railing, into the space below. An agonizing scream reverberated off the walls, two bodies falling ten floors, colliding into railings as they went. After one final thud, the stairwell went silent.

“RUN!” Rein quickly appeared a few steps above the couple with a panicked look. Kicking the tenth floor door closed, the teenager flew past the two, urging them to keep moving. Suddenly a loud bang resounded on the other side of the closed door causing it to shake. At the same time, a couple more bangs resonated through the stairwell as the doors to the other floors seemed to suddenly fly open. It was the sound of various groans and growls, that cued the couple to what was going on. The loud scream from before, had alerted all the other zombies to their location In the stairwell. Since all of the exit doors were push doors, the undead easily managed to enter the stairwell. Zombies from all floors, besides those cleared by Rein previously, began to form into a small horde.

Taking the hint, the couple quickly fallowed after the teen. Coming up to the ninth floor, the group of three were surprised when it suddenly flew open, releasing a female zombie in their way. Now blocking the path down, the zombie turned it’s attention to the three living people running towards it. Reacting on instincts, the small teenager aggressively lashed out with his crowbar, striking the undead across the face. Though the attack didn’t kill it, it did send the monster tumbling down the stairs, knocking down few other zombies as it went.

“In here!” Holding the ninth floor door open, Rein ushered the two through, closing the door swiftly shut behind them.

---

Panting heavily, three people carefully observed the corridor before them. Seeing no surprises, the two adults and one teen stopped to catch their breaths, quietly listened to the pounding on the door behind them. Rei finally got a good look at the two people he’d just saved.

Niomine Montoya and Takeru Keibo were both college students majoring in economics. Meeting each other through school, the two began dating. Two years and the couple had grown increasingly attached to one another, nearly ready to take their relationship to the next level. Then the apocalypse happened.

Takeru had always been naturally popular, the a class student enjoyed his title of ‘Mr. Right’. Though he spent quite some time maintaining his appearances, he never forgot to be kind to other. Unfortunately, Due to recent circumstances, this usually confidant and bright playboy looked completely helpless. Carrying a backpack, and a baseball bat, the guy kept jumping at the shadows around him. Messy, and still wearing his pajamas, Takeru looked as though he left home in a rush. He hadn’t even grabbed a jacket. Like most of the world, the innocent young man was blindsided by the apocalypse. His girlfriend, on the other hand, was much more prepared.

At first glance Niomine looked like your typical class belle. Beautiful and striking good looks, she carried a graceful aura that captivated other. It was no wonder Takeru Keibo fell for her so easily when they met. But if you give her a closer glance, you might find something different about her. Something... fierce. Those who’d known her for a long time would instantly think back to about a year ago. The originally gentle beauty suddenly woke up one day changed. Her usual pleasant and calming demeanor had hardened into an icy, and distant, attitude unlike her usual personality. This wasn’t a bad thing though. The sudden change upgraded her from beautiful school princess, to alluring queen. Worried by the sudden change his girlfriend underwent, Takeru was the first to ask question. At that time Niomine knew their was no use hiding her change in personality from Takeru, but still chose to brush off his questions, putting a wall mysterious wall between the couple. Feeling like it would be bad to puch her, Takeru reluctantly stopped pushing. Later, as time went on, the boy became amazed by the new skills his girlfriend showed. She suddenly showed interest in things like cooking, martial arts, and camping that Takeru hadn’t known she liked doing. Seeing his lover’s newfound strength, Takeru’s feelings for Niomine quickly deepened.

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Curious about what happened, Takeru started paying extra close attention to his girlfriend over the coming year. But he couldn’t figure out what happened to make her change. He would have been worried that she had been cheating on him with someone else, but she never left his side. In fact she ended up spending more time with him than before she changed. It was baffling. Then things took another turn. Two months ago Niomine became increasingly reclusive. Dropping out of school and losing contact with most of her friends, quietly disappear from the public eye. Worried, Takeru sought her out, hoping to change her mind about quitting school. But when he visited her apartment, she was missing. Not knowing what had happened to her, Takeru spent every waking moment for the next couple weeks searching for his lost girlfriend. You could only imagine his surprise when she showed up one morning at his apartment, imploring him to pack his bags. After the two argued for a few minutes, Takeru finally complied. His anticipated happy reunion with his girlfriend was filled with blood, horror and zombies.

Niomine didn’t carry a backpack like her boyfriend Takeru. She didn’t want it to weigh her down. Much like Rein, the woman dressed herself in a leather jacket, dark jeans, and wore a pair of durable gloves. Instead of high heels, the girl went with combat boots. She was prepared for battle. Her weapon of choice was also a bat, but hers was made of metal. While the youth was sizing her up, the woman looked up, locking eyes with Rein. A chill went up the teen’s spine, causing him to look away.

“What’s your name kid?” Takeru asked suddenly, seemingly to break the awkward silence. Turning his attention to the older man, Rein almost answered him, but a second look at the woman made him rethink his choice. Even Rein felt uncomfortable having a beauty like her stare him down. It wouldn’t be wise to offer introductions at a time like this. He may have saved these two, but he didn’t know anything about them. He also wasn’t looking to get caught up with whatever the couple were in the middle of doing. Rein knew that if he wasn’t planning on sticking around, then he shouldn’t bother giving out information.

“What floor are you headed to?” Instead of giving a name, Rein decided to ask his own question.

“We plan to leave through the first floor, possible the second if things aren’t favorable. You?” Niomine’s reply was direct, and seem to have implied the same thing Rein’s question did. Join hands if necessary but no more than that.

“I’m headed to the first basement parking lot.” The teen offered. Now that all the zombies in the hallways had congregated to one of the stairwells, Rein’s side task was pretty much finished. The zombies were mostly out of the hallways, and were now too close together to take on alone, so it would be better to just move on.

Seeing the two’s mutually indifferent attitude to one another, Takeru couldn’t help but feel something was up between the boy before him, and his Girlfriend. However another thought distract him from his suspicion. “Wait, hold on kid. Your not thinking of going out there alone are you? What about your family?”

“Family? Oh, they are fine. I locked them upstairs so that they can’t get out. If they get hungry, they can just eat each other.” The teen waved his hand dismissively as he started to walk down the empty hall. The three would have to use the other stairwell if they wanted to get out.

“WHAT!? You locked them up?!” The guy’s sudden exclamation incited a punch in the arm from his girlfriend, telling him to be quiet.

“He’s joking you idiot. Now keep it down. Unless you want to be zombie food.” Niomine sauntered forward while resting her bat on her shoulder, leaving her boyfriend to rub his arm begrudgingly.

“What kind of joke is that? It wasn’t even funny.” He pouted.

---

The new team of three carefully moved through the hall of the ninth floor, paying close attention to the sounds coming from each apartment. Once or twice they came across an open door, a sign that somebody left their home in a hurry, or worse. Coming upon these open doors, Rein would step forward to quietly close them shut. This was a precaution. If there were any zombies inside these rooms, they would be locked inside. If not...well, better safe than sorry. Avoiding contact with the undead took priority while escaping. Unlike the other floors, where most the residents were still sleeping, this floor’s quietness was from there being nobody around. This was a little unsettling, because that meant they could end up running into other people. If they knew someone was trying to leave alone, they might start asking questions, and these questions would lead them right to a truck of supplies hidden in the basement. Rein couldn’t allow that to happen.

Makings their main goal leaving the building, the trio didn’t feel the need to search for supplies. They just didn’t have the time, for soon things inside this building would start to get a lot more chaotic.

“I hear noises up ahead.” The tall woman whispered behind Rein. The three silently fell into position, Rein leading. A few feet away, another door was left open, only this one had blood stains leading into it. Already knowing what was in there, the two front runners gave each other a nod in tactful understanding before moving to either side of the door. Carefully looked inside the open apartment, Rein and Niomine only saw the usual gore and carnage. What looked to of been an old married couple, was now a zombie wife gnawing away at her husband. The two dead bodies were just inside the entryway of the apartment, making it a little too risky for Rein to try and close the door. Not wanting to leave a zombie behind them, the two humans decided to kill it.

Crouching down low, Rein reached out with his crowbar and tapped the floor in front of him. Stopping it’s current binge, the zombie quickly turned towards the open door. In search of it’s new visitors, the Zombie started to walk out of the apartment, unaware of what was on the other side of the doorway. Once it set a foot over the threshold, a black bar swung out at it’s feet causing it to fall over. Immediately following was a metal bat, cracking down on the zombie’s defenseless head, splattering blood across the floor from a caved in skull. Ten seconds is all it took.

“Woah! T-that..you t-two are too good at this.” Takeru stuttered, a little unnerved by the ruthlessness of his girlfriend and the teenager. Already having had watched, and helped, his girlfriend kill a couple zombies on the previous floors, Takeru was already a little desensitized to the monsters. But killing them was still an issue. It had only been a couple hours after all, and even a strong man can’t just wake up and be ok with this. Reaching out to close the apartment door, Rein sealed the husband’s, already twitching, dead body inside the room.

“It’s kill or be killed now. You’ll have to quickly get use to it.” The girl reminded her boyfriend wearily. She looked a little tired saying this, her words containing a hint of sorrow to them. Rein was careful to pick it up.

“Y-yeah...I guess you’re right. But still..” Takeru’s voice trailed off. He looked down at the body of the old lady in front of him, face going white, then green. For a moment, the teen thought the guy would throw up. “Why is this happening?”

“We’re coming up on the stairwell now, so we’ll have to be quieter.” Rein’s voice interrupted the conversation, as he rejoined them the two. Niomine had just finished giving Takeru a comforting kiss on the cheek when they looked over. Looking toward the two college students, Rein decided to inquire more about their escape plan. “How do you think we should proceed?”

“...I’d like to check out the second floor first. Having that second escape route might be safer.” Niomine had clearly put some thought into this already. Telling the teen about the truck she had waiting for them, on the east side of the building, the survivalist explained her original escape plan. She had wanted to leave out the emergency exit in the east end stairwell. The unfortunate incident from earlier had caused the two to make an unexpected detour with Rei. If the stairwell hadn’t filled up with undead, the couple would already be on their way out of the city. Now on the complete opposite side of the building, they had to improvise. Rei realized that the girl wasn’t a resident of this apartment building, and she’d only showed up to try and save her boyfriend. Takeru, who lived on the tenth floor, was the only reason she was trapped here.

“So..you were already prepared for this then.” The teen stated, giving Niomine a pointed stare.

Meeting the youth’s eyes, the girl in front of him nodded her head in affirmation. Then Cooley stated her own deduction of the other. “No more than you were.”

Rein stayed silent for a moment, not sure how he felt about being found out so easily. However it wasn’t long before he gave a boyish shrug, shoving the conversation under the rug. “... fair enough. Let’s go then.”

Overhearing the two, Takeru gave his significant other a confused look. “Do you two know each other?”

“Don’t be silly, we just happened to be on the same page.” Niomine explained curtly. Her boyfriend only hummed doubtfully. The two continued to fallow the kid into quietly.