Kokkua City

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It happened quick, the tag team had been minding their own buisness and then a thud caught Rei's attention. Youta hadn't noticed and turned around when he noticed the woman had stopped following. He then saw the raiders, the food, and the look on Rei's face. Knowing a fight was about to ensue Youta readied his blade, nodding seriously at what Rei had to say. There had to be enough food to last them at least a while longer, people needed that food. Youta assessed the weaponry of the bandits, Youta exhaled audibly. Automatic weapons, always with guns, Youta hates guns they are so boring. Though his sword would be of little help Youta came prepared for situations like these. Rei with her guns was surely outgunned and and couldn't do this alon and for some reason Youta doubted his ability to kill with the toy pistol he had been given by Rei. Youta ran to cover as the gunfight began, not waiting to be joined by Rei who he knew to be self-sufficient. Then he heard her voice, calling out for help. It stung Youta's Pride a bit that his partner had so little faith in him and would do this without consulting him first. "Remember this isn't my first gun fight Rei, it's like my second or third." He corrected her with a classic cheesy smile. He spoke as rummaging through his bag of equipment. "I have tricks up my sleeve for when this piece of junk becomes useless fast." He tapped the hilt of his saber before grinning at what he has in hand. Remember before this we were send on raids a lot, I've picked up a few toys that I thought might come in handy later." Rei held one of the devices in his right hand and offered the one in his right hand to Rei. "Yeah Rei I know awesome I'm packin friggin grenades! Three to be exact, can't be sure what kind they are. I'm not Anders or anything and I though he'd confiscate them. So want to take one for a throw?"

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Sera was about to enter the apartment, grinding her teeth in frustration at how Blade always seemed to be super nice with everyone, even bandits that clearly meant more harm than good. It pissed her off that he could be so naive to want to offer them a spot in their safe area - food was already hard enough to get as it is. The only way to survive is by protecting those around you, and getting rid of any possible threats! Why didn't Blade understand this? "What if one day food became a real problem?" Sera asked, suddenly annoyed, staring at the boss. "And the bandits wouldn't make things any easier. Some of that food could go to your sister, or to Kasumi, do you really want to waste it on trash like bandits?" Before the argument could continue, however, Sera suddenly received a message from Rei - something about a fight? It seemed a fire was lit in Serafina's eyes and she grinned eagerly, full of excitement. Before Blade could say anything, Sera responded to Rei's call for help. "Sera here, I'm on my way!" She aimed her Combustion Module behind her, ready to start it up. "Hold out until I get there!" The fire girl snatched up one of the candies into her mouth, sucking on it and smiling at Blade before boosting herself, using her own lifespan as an engine to speed towards Gold Street, near the downtown and the larger buildings and corporate skyscrapers.

With the fire burning behind her, Sera shot like a rocket through the familiar streets, dodging a zombie entirely as she moved, nearing Rei's location on the radar device. She was almost there, and it was almost time. Sera's eyes burned with a deep hunger for fighting and for killing - what else was she even good at, if not this? Five enemies? If Sera could get close enough, that wouldn't even almost be a problem! And at last, Sera made her announcement of her joining the battle with a burst of fire, creating smoke to ruin everyone's vision. "Rei, Youta, fall back to a better position while the smoke has them distracted!" Hoping they would listen, Sera slipped through the smoke, following the sounds of gunfire and yells. Like a predator the girl stalked, finding her first target, one to the left of the looter's formation. She burnt him alive, enjoying his screams of pain and fear - a fried human corpse was all that remained. More yells - the others were going to investigate what had happened. Another burst of flame and another looter caught alight. Unfortunately, the smoke chose that time to disperse, revealing Sera's location to the remaining three enemies, and they all decided to focus her.

"Alright, I've got their attention!" Sera announced as she ran - trying to stay ahead to avoid their bullets, feeling the blood pumping through her heart with excitement. An incredibly happy smile was on the fire girl's face. Sera dipped and dodged through the alleys and streets, three enemies on the pursuit, shooting and shouting. She had a headache, she'd used up too much fire, but it was fine. Because this was the only thing Sera could ever hope to be good for.

"Sorry, you're right. Lets just focus on the mission." Kasumi nodded. She watched Anders pull out three disks an threw them into the air in the distance. She smiled as Anders told her what they were for and followed him above ground, shutting her eyes painfully from the bright sunlight. She quickly opened them again as she heard Anders fighting and saw a small pack of zombies fumbling towards them. A smirk settled on Kasumi's lips as she braced her feet against the pavement before jumping directly into the crowd, instantly taking out three zombies. She dropped to the floor as the zombies turned to grab her, sweeping the spear across their legs before stabbing the spear through each of their foreheads. She made easy work of the small group and stood triumphantly over the pile of dead bodies.

Kasumi put a hand on her small radio as Rei's voice broke through, talking about a fight. She looked up to Anders as Serafina responded and shook her head.
"Sera, don't go overboard, we're too far away by now to come help." She said through the radio. She stepped down from the pile and began heading towards another pack of zombies that were blocking their way into the business district. Of course, she could always find a different way in - but there were only a few undead here and there. Kasumi took out a few more dead while inspecting the buildings around them. They were much taller up close and the area was covered in mostly shadows because of them. She suddenly glanced up as the sound of loud, but distant groaning came to her ears. It was coming from all directions and she saw a hoard slowly making their way towards them, backing them into a corner. Her eyes scanned the area for a safe place before they landed on a building with open doors.
"Lets go inside for now and hope the hoard passes us. Close the door behind you, but break a window or something so your droids can go in and out, I guess." She mumbled as she grabbed Anders hand and pulled him inside. Zombies were easy to take out in small groups, but much more dangerous in a large group. She paused in the lobby to spear a single dead hovering near the door before inspecting the inside.

"It looks like its... a hotel." She stated as her eyes ran over the wall of room keys behind the desk. She turned to look at Anders with a smile.
"A hotel in a business district means there could be all sorts of wonders in the rooms up there." Her eyes glittered at the thought of picking all of the door locks, like some sort of old treasure adventure quest game.
"But... maybe we should check out this floor first, work our way up. They're bound to have some kind of restaurant and medical room, right?" She asked, walking deeper into the building. It grew much darker as they walked further in and Kasumi hesitated as an undead glanced in her direction, standing perfectly still to fool it. The zombie sort of stared at her for a while before turning back around to do whatever it was doing and she smiled, changing the grip on her spear to throw it like a javelin. The zombie fell with a thump and Kasumi quickly retrieved her weapon before advancing through the building.

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Rei had moved, from where she took cover, firing three times per gun, six bullets in total. All six had hit centre mass on another bandit, having been distracted by Sera and his ally's spontaneous combustion. Though a matter of minutes ago, Rei was pinned with Youta, whom had handed a grenade to her. With a swift decline Rei had fired a few rounds, blindly to put a couple of heads down, to little avail. Though Sera came blitzing in with her fire. Rei and Sera alone was a fair enough fight in Rei's eyes. Not to say Youta was weak, but Rei wanted to protect her partner more than most others. Although Rei's face soon became colder as Blade chimed in, which angered Rei, She knew the first part, though the next bit he said was what got Rei angry

"...Keep casualties to as minimal as possible and don't you DARE touch anything of theirs. That is an order. I will not allow any of you to become the very savages that we are supposedly protecting the civilization from. I don't give a damn if they have food or gold up their ass, you do not touch a thing. Apprehend them and avoid killing them as much as possible. Were suppose to be killing zombies people not each other!"

'Who in the hell does he think he is?' she yelled in her head, picking up her communicator, and replying with her tone sounding about as mad as she is, "I don't give a DAMN about letting them live, know why? They shot at me first, with the intent to kill me." she paused, to make sure the connection was stable, "I couldn't give more of a damn if you want to save everyone in the city from the dead and these mongrels. It's for food, and that's something we NEED. Thus I'll take it from them if they don't die first" as Rei put her communicator back, she was sure to switch it off, 'can't have the battery dying now.' She thought, knowing she just probably angered Blade, though her eyes went to Sera, "Sera, move! I'll cover you!" she yelled firing at the last man, missing intentionally just to get his head down, feeling the heat of the battle move through her body, Rei may not admit it, but fighting was thrilling, the adrenaline was easily going through her body and mind, no longer caring for if she had angered Blade.

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"Anything for you, Kasumi!" Sera said cheerfully, dodging another bullet and ducking as she continued her dash.

Honestly, even though she heard Rei and Blade arguing on the radio, Sera wasn't really listening. When three men are chasing you and shooting at you and you have a headache and your head feels dizzy because you've strained yourself and are overusing your fire abilities, there are more important things to worry about than listening to your boss and the new girl fight and bicker like a married couple. She wasn't too worried, whatever it was about - what Sera needed to do was keep sprinting as fast as she possibly could. She heard gunshots from another direction - Rei was coming to help now, covering the fire girl for an advantage. Though to be fair, Sera was having way too much fun with this - adrenaline was coursing through her and every nerve was primed for action. Even if the head pain was real, this was way too fun. Hells yes, this is what she lived for, even more than candy lollies in her mouth!

With Rei's covering fire, Sera managed to zip around a corner and jump up on the fire escape, panting lightly to catch her breath. One of the men stopped the chase to fire at Rei - hopefully missing - and Sera jumped from her vantage point at the last two, knocking one out with a kick and dodging a sudden knife from the other in order to shoot a burst of flames to his clothing. Screams of pain and the smell of burning flesh filled the air and Sera took out her small hand gun to finish the job, ending the man's suffering. Now it was just Rei and the last one and when Sera aimed her gun at him he suddenly spun around, fired and -

Pain exploded somewhere in Sera's torso region and she buckled to her knees letting out a grunt. The last bandit moved to escape but Sera still managed to aim and fire, hitting him in the back of the knee, toppling him over, crippled. With the battle over, Serafina examined her wound, feeling dizzy from the exertion. Her palm was bloody but it turned out the bullet hit a window and it was just glass shards in her side. She smiled slightly to herself, feeling stupid for getting hit in the first place. "Mi-mission accomplished, Rei.." The girl groaned. She knew instinctively it wasn't fatal - heck, after some bandages and a few hours she'd be completely fine, minus some pain.

Though the wound itself wasn't bad, that in conjunction with overusing her fire really took the stamina out of the girl. Her legs felt rubbery, unable to sustain her weight. With a grimace, she picked up the radio. "All hostiles down, two survivors. I'm - I probably need medical aid..."

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"Kasumi? Did you forget why we're even out here in the first place? I... ah, nevermind. You go look, find anything that's too heavy, call for me." Anders said, closing the door as he was asked. It was amusing to see the mindless dead outside paw for the little drones, hovering just out of reach.

He could use them to draw the horde away. Have two just saunter off, use the last remaining one to look. Which - which could actually work, and it only took a minute of tinkering before they set off on their course, enticing the undead with beeps, whistles, and buzzes. Might take a while, but those little things would thin out their issue a bit.

The third he sent looking for the source of the signal. As an idle thought, he checked his radio, shifting from channel to channel, trying to see if they might have gotten any closer to the trapped victims, following after Kasumi's footsteps.

"...Floor eighteen, room eight-one-nine. Sick and injured. New Horizons. Floor eighteen, room eight-one-nine. Sick and injured..." A woman's voice could be heard, muffled and distorted through the radio, but definitely more clear. He could understand what was being said this time. He paused, frowning as he took a look at the ground beneath him, where a large, grand logo was carefully etched into the marble, and underneath, strong, squared lettering.



Perhaps Anders might need to take a hard long look at the years of prayer he's neglected, for divine intervention might very well be real, even in the apocalypse. He shut the radio off - the message seemed to be on a sort of automatic repeat. They must be using one of those fancy emergency radios. Probably powered by hand cranking, even.

Of course, he looked up, seeing Kasumi nowhere. Hopefully she was on the first floor. He fiddled with his radio, switching it over to the frequency they all knew to use.

"Hey, Kasumi. I think they're in this building. Skip the supplies for now, head up to the eighteenth floor, alright? If you beat me up there - which you probably will, should be in room... eh - I think it was eight hundred and nineteen."

And with that, he found a staircase, and made a long, grueling walk up. In this part of the city, he had no idea whether the generators worked or not. Besides, elevators could fall without maintenance, and it's been quite a while.

He wasn't a coward, no. He was just worried about the integrity of the elevator.

He had to take a minute to catch his breath, but once on the eighteenth floor, he started scanning each plaque. Eight hundred and one. Eight hundred and two. He'd find the poor sods, give them the gasmasks they would need, and Kasumi would probably come up with medical supplies in a minute or two, help him patch up whatever scratch or shot they needed to deal with. Usual protocol.

He could only hope it went as well for the others. The dialogue he heard between Blade and Rei before he switched channels didn't really help his worry for them either.

Kasumi covered her nose as the scent of rotten food filtered out all other smells in the kitchen. She had found the restaurant, but everything she had seen so far was spoiled beyond edibility. She nudged a few things aside as she wandered around quietly, opening cabinets and any other small crevice that looked like it could hold food. She made a small 'ahh' sound as she opened a cupboard to find individually wrapped square cakes. She flipped them over to inspect them and she nodded to herself as they still looked good. She shoved all of them into her bag and continued her search.

After a few minutes of walking back and forth, Kasumi hesitantly stared at what she assumed was the meat freezer, asking herself if she was prepared for the concentrated stink of rotting meat. She thought of the first night she was alone on the surface, when she had to hide in a pile of corpses to remain undetected. She fought to hold down her stomach, shuttered at the memory and continued on her way, leaving the restaurant with nothing but the little cakes.

Kasumi glanced down as she heard static on her radio and held it up so it could get better reception, but all she heard were bits of voices - something about a mission and medical aid. She held it closer to her ear to try and pick out whose voice it was but practically threw it across the room as Anders voice broke through the static, scaring her more than a zombie ever could.
"I'm going to murder him..." Kasumi growled. She held a hand to her chest and took a deep breath to slow her rapidly beating heart as she held up the radio to respond.

"Okay, I'm going to check for any medical supplies now. I'll meet you up there." She clipped the small radio back onto her belt as she wandered to the first aid office. Kasumi made quick work of the room but sighed as she only found a few liquid bandage bottles, some pain pills, burn relief gel, and a secret stash of the same pills that she relied on for so long to stay awake. She shoved the lucidity pills into a nearby trash can and sighed angrily as dark memories threatened to resurface. Her focus was drawn away as she passed a window and glanced outside at the quickly darkening sky. She tilted her head a bit as she thought of how long they had been out for but she slowly dug out her gas mask and fastened it over her face. It was either a storm or smoke, which were both equally bad in her book, but she always thought it was better to be safe than sorry. She spun around and headed for the stairs, using the rails to pull herself up three or four steps at a time.
"I'm here, Anders. The sky looks odd outside so I have my mask on as a precaution." She said through the radio as she reached the eighth floor.

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Anders could hear her steps from the far end of the hallway. That was rather quick. "Sounds good. I'll slip mine after we talk to these folks."

He glanced at the door. Real, heavy wood, and a big brass knocker. He gave it a few loud raps, and raised his voice, "Hey, anyone in there?" He waited a few seconds, and got no response. It was dead quiet. He could see Kasumi coming down the hall, now, so he reached to adjust the radio, make sure he hadn't heard the message incorrectly -

Then his ears popped as three loud shots rang out from behind him. Wait - behind? He heard the wood ahead of him splinter and could feel a pop and mechanical hiss in his backpack as he stumbled forward, dazed. It didn't occur to him until about five seconds later that he'd been shot at. More importantly, he'd been shot.

Was it a trap? There were only three shots, and as he slid down to the ground, aiming behind him, he could hear shouts, yelling, and a thump. Maybe they thought he was dead. He'd made no noise, save for the gasp that was likely not heard over the general ruckus. Likely ready to come out and loot what they assumed to be a corpse.

Kasumi has to be getting closer. She'd definitely heard the commotion. He couldn't see into the hall, though. His eyes (and the point of his rifle) were glued to the door, waiting for any motion. Behind the room, a voice became more distinct.

"Who gave this trigger-happy idiot a gun?" An older voice could be heard, growing louder. Following his, he heard a few more shouts, and what seemed to be a distant, muffled thump. "Looters don't knock, son!"

Kasumi jumped at least a foot in the air and quickly shielded her ears with her hands as a gunshot rang through the small space. It wasn't until after she opened her eyes that she saw Anders, on his knees and pointing his rifle towards a door. Her walk turned into a run as she rushed over to Anders, walking faster as she began to see the blood on his clothing.
"Anders! What happened!?" She asked in a hushed whisper.

Her eyes turned to the door across the hall and noticed three holes in it. She stood up angrily and stomped over to the door, standing to the side as her knuckles rapped against the door.
"We didn't come to harm you, we came to look for survivors. But shoot at us one more time and we'll feed you to the zombies." She growled.
"Come out if you're looking for sanctuary." She said one more time before kneeling next to Anders.

"Let me see how bad it is. Can you move?" Her eyes glanced over Anders body, pulling at his jacket slightly before she began digging into her bag. Out of the few things she found downstairs, she knew the only thing that would be of help to him was the pain pills. She snatched up two and presented them to Anders.
"Here. I'm sure that gunshot attracted zombies so we're going to need you to get out of here." She said as her eyes roamed the hallway for any signs of the undead that had awoken. She bit her bottom lip and silently prayed that the hoard had already gone far enough not to hear the shot.

"I have no idea, Kasumi. I think I got shot. And... I'm hoping I can move." Anders said, probably a bit more spitefully than he intended. Keeping one eye on the door, he used his rifle as a brace to pull himself up. And as he did so, he felt a jarring pain in his back. He couldn't help but hiss as he slowly stood upright. "The last thing I need are those damn things messing with my head on the way back." He grunted, also refusing Kasumi's painkiller offering.

Since Kasumi's angry message, those behind the door had since fallen silent, and Anders could hardly even hear a footstep from within. Thankfully, they didn't keep shooting.

"Oh, yeah, yeah. The dead, I can check. They like noise and all that." Anders muttered, propping his rifle under an arm as he examined his device, spending a minute fiddling with it and manipulating the machines that surely hovered somewhere outside. And indeed, as Kasumi had said, he could see more lines of the undead starting to emerge from their usual crevices within cars, alleys, and shady spaces.

As he did this, the door slowly opened, and an older woman stepped out. Hunched over by the trials of time, she seemed almost too frail to survive in a world like this. Behind her followed three others - a short, bearded man with a swollen eye, and a pair of what seemed to be teenaged children. Perhaps siblings, if Anders could judge by their resemblance.

"Please, we didn't mean to harm. My son - god bless his soul - is too excitable when it comes to these things. We've all had trouble with less kindly sorts." The woman said, her gaze turned towards Kasumi. Then, she glanced at Anders, "Are you hurt?"

"Not terribly." Anders said, feeling his back. His skin burned, but he couldn't feel anything within him. He might've gotten lucky - the bullet could have grazed him without even entering. He returned his eyes to his device - and his brow furrowed.

"Kasumi," Anders said, "Keep your gasmask on. There's a cloud that's... very likely to come our way." He unshouldered his pack, reaching inside. Yet, he withdrew bloodied fingers with a yelp that startled the two younger victims across the hall. He reinserted his hand - much more carefully this time - and pulled out the shattered remains of two gasmasks. Out of the five he kept in reserve for these missions. It wasn't the best sign.

"Do any of you have something to filter the air? Keep you from breathing the air?" Anders questioned.

"We have these?" The young girl spoke up, pulling a crumpled dust mask from a back pocket. "We don't know if they really work, though."

"They don't. Good thing you never tested them. Toss those, take - take these." Anders said, tossing a mask to the siblings, and to the older woman. The man shot him, after all, so he could do without a mask, seeing as Anders would undergo the same risk.

"Kasumi? You ready? If we hurry, we could definitely get out of here before either the dead or the gas shows up." Anders said, standing straight up with a bit of a wince.