The Kazehaya Virus

Chapter 12.5: Two Days

"BANG!!"

Nagatoro's heart shattered to pieces the moment she heard the gunshot. Her heart felt like a fragile glass nearly overflowing with liquid, this being the last drop to cause everything within her to collaps and spill right there, right now.

The girls eyes were overrun with tears that flowed across her cheeks before dropping on the floor, each one containing an immeasurable amount of pain within itself. The girl wanted to scream even more than she ever had.

But before she could let a single noise out, Gamo covered her mouth. "Shh. They're right outside." She whispered as she held Nagatoro tightly. It was not only an attemptn silence her, but also one to comfort and share the pain she was feeling.

Hayase entire body shook as she held onto Gamo's shirt tightly, pulling her in and holding her with all her might. All Gamo could do was simply hug her as tightly as she could.

The rest of the group simply collapsed on the floor in exhaustion, trying to regain the strenght they had lost during the chase. The three girls knew just as well as Gamo and Nagatoro. If it wasn't by the gunshot, it would've been by the Zombies. There was no doubt about it. Naoto Hachioji was dead.

"How... could this happen? He..." Hana's heart felt heavy at the loss of her friend. "He was so close. It was pure bad luck." The girls heart sunk as she held her hand agains her chest. "He didn't deserve this.

"H-Hana." Sakura stuttered as her whole body shook. It happened again. Someone had died in front of her once more. As if Riko and Haru weren't enough, fate had to come in and steal someone else from her. "Hana."

The girl turned to Sakura, noticing her eyes. There was a sense of emptiness within them, as if every single emotion within her had been draining for the past dew days, only a small droplets of what used to be there left. "Please. Help me get up." The girl looked up to Hana with a stare that could only be described as a call for help. A way out of so much pain as she reached out her hand.

Hana extended her hand towards Sakura, pulling her up from the ground. Sakura felt dizzy, her entire body wobbling as Hana dragged her upwards. The moment she felt like she was back on solid ground, the girl rushed into the bathroom, locking herself in. From what she looked like, Hana could guess what she would do in there.

Yoshi simply stared at the door, her eyes looking as guilty as her conscience felt. "It's always him... who takes the initiative. He always went ahead first, while I hung around in the back." Her conscience weight her down with the realization that trough all of this, Naoto was always the one in front. The one to speak up. He was almost always the first one to rush to someone's aid. "Why couldn't I be more like him? Maybe then, he would still be..."

The silence in the room was suddenly broken by a sound coming from the other side of the door. The girls thought things couldn't get worse. It couldn't go any lower.

"Crunch! Crack! Rip!"

Nagatoro could clearly hear it from the other side, seeing as she was closest to the door. Something was being broken and ripped on the other side. "What's that sound?" Yoshi asked. However, the rest of them had already figured it out. It wasn't something, it was someone. And they knew just who that someone was.

Nagatoro felt like she was falling deeper and deeper. "N-No... they can't be..."

Gamo grabbed the girl and held her tighter, hoping that her embrace would drown out the sounds of ripping skin and crunching bones from outside. Even if it hurt Nagatoro more than her, the mere imagination of what was going on outside twisted her stomach beyond belief. "And right in front of us." Gamo thought to herself as she closed her eyes, toughing it out as she hugged Nagatoro.