In 1831, biologist Charles Darwin theorized that if a species entered an endangered state, nature will select a few individuals to survive. Gifting them a new set of skills as newer variation of a previous species.

Evolution. Nature wasn't fair with this reward. Sometimes it was generous with it, sometimes it withheld it. It all depended on nature's will and if it saw fit for that species to survive. Someone might say that this is unfair and unjust, but it was completely fair. Mother Nature held no biases and didn't favor any life more than any other.

The toss of a coin, the roll of a dice, the shuffling of cards. Random probability was how the universe worked. It was unplanned and erratic, like its partner; fate. So, when a race was on the edge of extinction, it had two choices… evolution or extinction.

Humanity has never experienced the true power of nature. That is until patient zero entered the picture. One by one, countries all over the globe experienced the same disease.

The rural and isolated areas were first as it was easy for a predator to pick off the smallest and most isolated of the herd. Towns and cities soon became graveyards and hauntings for the dead.

Quarantine zones were put up to safekeep all the remaining. Generators, electricity, and power went out and the darkness of night became one of man's greatest threats.

It wasn't too long before the governments disbanded as the chaotic societies couldn't maintain themselves any longer. It seemed oblivion was the next stage for the species.

But by some strange divine luck humanity was able to hold onto some glimmer of hope. Small groups out of an entire race were able to form and erect out of the chaos and darkness, just so they could try and stay alive.

A forked path with two roads ahead, one leading towards annihilation and the other towards vitality. Evolution was the key, the turning point of their demise. But it all loops right back around to the basics of animal nature: fight or flight.

The world came to end when… honestly, I don't remember when. My parents were teenagers when humanity was pushed to the edge. Someone even asked me if I had remembered a time when the world was innocent and not so fucked up. No…

I was born into this world, for me and my generation this world was our home. So, when we heard the stories of what life was like back in the day, we dubbed them as the ravings of a madman.

Whether this was Armageddon or not, it didn't matter. This was home…

Several darkly dressed men and women traversed through the dead city. The skies were grey and dark from the impending storm with thunder rumbling in the distance. The towering buildings were black and destroyed. Some parts of the city had an abundance of undergrowth spreading through them, even some of the buildings. Blood and corpses were seen throughout the metropolis. Tokonosu City… or at least what it once was. Now what's left was just a ghost.

The dark dressed group had five members; three women and two men. They wore masks that covered most of their faces. A kitsune, wolf, hawk, lion, and snake masks. Crouched down, the group held automatic weapons, fingers near the trigger. They were stalking through the broken streets, destroyed vehicles were littered everywhere. Blood stains from corpses were seen every now and then.

"Everyone still hear?" One of the men spoke through his radio. "Sound off. Fox."

A woman answered, "Snake's still here.

"Hawk; present," a masculine voice replied.

"Wolf here," another female answered.

The final feminine voice answered, "Lion."

"Dragon?" Fox looked around at his group and didn't their third male member. "Where the hell is Dragon?!"

Snake replied, "I saw him not ten minutes ago looking at that superstore we passed up."

"We're going back for the kid?" Hawk questioned towards Fox.

Fox turned around and started leading the group to their lost member, "No man left behind, etcetera. Plus, the Don is close to the kid, it'd be bad if we came back without Dragon."

The group carefully and silently retraced their steps to try and find the supermarket. The store had long since been raided and abandoned. The parking lot in front was broken and cracked, like it was just waiting to crumble into pieces. It was old and rotting; like a death being prolonged.

"Snake and Lion, search the left side of the store. Hawk and Wolf, the right side. I've the got the back. Fan out!"

The group set out into the store to find their missing member. The store was as dead as it looked, with its furniture; shelves, registers, tables, etc. were all spilled all over the place. Decayed, with rats, insects and other varmints scurrying around. The ceiling had holes, curtesy of the harsh elements, and looked like it was about to crumble at any moment. With destroyed furniture and debris, it had the appearance of a battered and decrepit maze.

Walking through the store, the gunmen had their weapons trained on anything that moved. They had laser sights activated to increase their accuracy with thermal vision implanted in their mask for any heat signatures.

Wolf saw Hawk inspecting a decayed corpse lying on the floor a few feet away; its dark grey, moldy skin was shriveled, hugging the skeleton like a catsuit. Fungus and other infectious spores was rooted in the cadaver.

"Disgusting," commented Hawk. Wolf watched as the blank, milky eyes slowly pop open with the lipless jaws open and shut, like it was trying to talk, or eat.

Wolf aimed and shot two bullets in the corpse's forehead. "Stop dicking around and help me find Wolf. I'd rather not prolong this little adventure."

"Just enjoying the lovely scenery," Hawk shrugged off.

On the other side of the store, Snake lowered her HK416 and leaned down and picked up an old photo on the floor. It was of an old couple sitting in chairs in front of the very store Snake stood in; the old woman held an infant wrapped in a blanket, a younger-looking couple standing behind them; the young held another blanket-wrapped infant with benevolent smile on her lips.

"Memories of the past," Snake placed it gently on one of shelves. Lion joined her and placed a hand on Snake's shoulder, "At least you aren't alive to see what's come of your home."

As Snake walked off, she failed to see shadows a few meters behind her. Snake also didn't comprehend the whisper-like groans behind her.

Fox was crouched on the ground, searching for any indication of boot prints. Standing up, he moved slowly and silently, careful about how loud his own boots were.

"Come on, Dragon, this isn't the time to play cat and mouse," Fox whispered to himself. He looked up and saw the refrigeration room. The door was halfway open and pitch-black darkness was only what he saw inside.

Feeling no other option, Fox—with steeled nerves—entered the back room. Utilizing his infrared gear in his mask, he navigated through the cold, dark storage unit.

It was quiet as can be, with the exceptions of his soft footsteps. Fox stopped momentarily when he heard an unknown sound in his vicinity. His movements were sharp and precise when he turned to his left and kept his rifle trained.

He saw some sort of body moving near him a few meters. It was on the floor moving weirdly, on its hands and knees. He slowly moved towards it, not taking his gun's sight off it.

"Dragon?" Fox was in for a surprise when it wasn't his missing comrade. It was the body of humanoid male; dark grey—almost black—skin, extruded dark red veins running about, unfocused milky eyes, lipless jaws, torn rags, and exposed bones and organs.

Looking up from the body it was wolfing down, the creature saw Fox before releasing a shrieking, banshee-like howl. He heard other wails around him when corpses similar in appearance started slowly rising from up their sleep like state.

Backing up, he aimed at any that came close. He was roughly grabbed by his shoulder and turned around to meet another individual.

"Its me! Its Dragon! Fox, we need leave! We need to go, now!" Dragon wore black cargo pants, combat boots, a dark jacket with a large fur hood underneath a tattered black leather jacket. His forearms had furred bracers and he wore a blue, oriental dragon mask. He had a heavy looking duffel bag strapped around him. His KRISS Super V was strapped to his shoulder.

Fox and Dragon sprinted out as the creatures gave chase through uncoordinated racing. Slamming the door, the two comrades placed a worn-down table in front of it. The door was repeatedly struck as the creatures to overcome the metal door.

Dragon watched with panted breaths at the blocked door before being roughly shoved by Hawk when he and the others came up behind him. "What the hell was that?!"

"What're you talking about?!" Dragon defended, shoving away Hawk.

Hawk stepped closer to Dragon, his voice getting louder, "What do you mean 'what're you talking about'? You almost got yourself killed!"

"Did you think for a moment?!" Lion scolded Dragon like he was child.

Snake came to Dragon's defense, "Back off, both of you! This isn't the time act like children!"

"She's right," Fox agreed before turning to Dragon, "Dragon, you fucked up and almost got yourself killed! What's in the bag?"

Snatching the duffel, Fox, Wolf, and Snake looked inside. Because of their masks, no one could gauge their reactions or emotions. But all knew they were surprised to find whatever it was inside.

Wolf was the first to speak, "Y-You wandered off and went solo… on your own… for this?!"

Wolf's rant was cut short when the banging on the door increased in volume. Soon the door metal door started denting.

"Go!" Fox led the group out the store just as the creatures broke through and a large horde of them burst out. They scattered like cockroaches, trying to catch their prey.

"Rabbit!" Snake called through her walkie as the group ran through the broken glass doors. "This is Snake, we need an immediate evac! I repeat, we need an immediate evac!"

Wolf and Hawk looked back to aim their guns to try and slow down the horde. Their bullets did nothing to slow them, for everything one they took down three came up behind.

A black van pulled up in front of them where the back doors opened and a male with a rabbit mask wearing dark, tattered clothes appeared from it. "Come on!"

One by one, the group entered, the last being Dragon as he gave the bag to Lion. Before Dragon could properly enter, Rabbit hit the accelerator and the van took off.

The doors were hung open with Dragon being dragged and three infected hanging by his legs. With Rabbit driving recklessly from trying to avoid the destroyed vehicles in the street, the others couldn't gather their bearings to help Dragon.

"Get off me!" Dragon kicked off two of the infected but the last was persistent. Dragon had to keep the creature's mouth from munching on him was his hand pushing against the creature's forehead.

But it wasn't enough as the monster crawled and bit into Dragon's hand. Everyone who saw had body language that expressed fear and shock.

Lion and Fox grabbed his shoulders and pulled him up as Hawk shot the infected several times in the face. Slacking, the creature rolled on the concrete as the group sped off.

Assessing Dragon's situation, Fox removed Dragon's ruined fur bracer and—to his relief—only saw the bracer was the only damage, his skin was red with a bite mark, but the skin also wasn't broken.

"Your lucky, Dragon," Fox got up as Dragon laid on his back in exhaustion, "Very lucky."

Dragon reached up to remove his mask, since it was a bit too difficult to breathe with it on. Pulling back his hood, his face was revealed. Youthful, sharp masculine features, olive tanned complexion, long obsidian black hair, and honey gold eyes.

Komuro Takashi sighed as he looked at his spared hand, "Fucking hell…"

How do you like it? I'm having trouble doing pairing. (1)(TakashiXRei/Saeko), (2)(TakashiXRei/Saeko/Saya), & (3)(TakashiXRei/Saeko/Saya/Shizuka). I'm thinking of doing all of them, but I'm still debating it. Give feedback and your opinion, and remember: nothing but positive thoughts and constructive criticism.

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