AN: Thanks, JDUBZ for being an awesome Beta Reader!

Chapter 6: Breaking the Loop

April 27, 2015

3:44am

The engine roared as Zoey applied and released the gas at random intervals, sometimes pressing on the brakes to make them drift around corners and speed off.

Zoey was having the time of her life as she zoomed through the streets. "Ahahahaha! I've never been able to do this!"

Subaru's said sarcastically, still holding tight to his seat, "Oh gee, I wonder why?!"

The car swerved around another corner and came to a halt. In front of them was open road, either side of the street was lined with cars and walkers, except for the middle. Subaru could feel Zoey's eyes on him. He looked at her excited face and bluntly said, "No."

She rapidly nodded her head, "Yes."

As she floored it, Subaru yelled out, sinking into his chair, "Nononononononononono!" Ahead of them, Grand Ave. came up and Zoey jerked the wheel. This sent them drifting yet again.

As they swerved, a walker was caught in its path and launched into the air. Feeling the abrupt thump on the car, Zoey turned to look at the slightly damaged car door. She turned to Subaru with a hand over her mouth, hiding a smile, "Oops."

This girl is crazy. I mean, I enjoy killing them because they've hurt me. This girl, she's killing for fun. Subaru said under his breath, "I hope that doesn't include her killing me."

"What was that?"

Subaru was worried she heard him, "Nothing, nothing!" He gripped the seat again as Zoey sent the car zooming down Grand Ave. "Please don't kill me."

Her eyes reflected the lights of the street lamps lights as they went over her, filling her with happiness and a sense of purpose. Before this world, she was a stay-at-home kind of person. Watching zombie flicks and other horror movies had surprisingly prepared her for a situation like this. She was ready to show those walkers what she was made of.

3:54am

As they past a street, Subaru saw the flashing lights of a cop car, "Woah, stop!"

Zoey applied the brakes, sending them skidding across the road and coming to a halt. She reversed the car back to where Subaru told her to stop.

There, next to a big, silver, artsy looking building was a cop car, it's lights flashing. That's gotta be him. He's not moving so hopefully he hasn't been bitten yet.

"Head over there," Zoey's foot hovered over the gas, "...slowly, please!"

Zoey pouted and drove at a reasonable speed.

This area of LA looked worse when it came to looting. Not many walkers were around, but the amount of stores with broken windows was almost too many to count.

One man who was exiting a shop he just robbed, saw their car and went at them with a bat, ready to hit it if he could as it drove by. The man stopped in his tracks when Zoey pulled out the revolver and pointed it in his general direction. She didn't shoot, only made sure he kept his distance.

As they approached the building the cruiser was next to, Subaru recognized it as the Walt Disney Concert Hall. He had gone there once with his dad when he was young. He was disappointed with it because it had nothing to do with Mickey Mouse like he thought it would.

Quarke was sitting in the cruiser, trying to contact the police department to update them on his side of town. However, the com wasn't working, all he would get in reply was static. As he was trying to figure out how to fix the com, assuming something was wrong on his side, a walker emerged from within the concert hall.

Seeing Quarke, the walker began banging on the glass, their bloody hands smearing the clear surface. Quarke looked up to inspect the noise and found the man hitting the glass. He saw multiple bite wounds, scratches, and bruises across his shirtless body and hurriedly walked up to the glass.

Quarke adjusted his uniform as he said in an authoritative voice, "Do not panic! I need you to stay calm! I'm going to find a way in!" Just as he was about to run to the entrance of the building a crack in the glass appeared.

Quarke turned back to the man, who was looking back with bloodshot, angry eyes. Through the glass, Quarke could hear the man's roar as he began to rapidly hit the glass with his head and fists.

Quarke backed up towards the cruiser as the man violently flailed, hitting the window with all his strength.

"Sir, I need you to stop that right now!"

More cracks spread in the glass. Quarke could hear the spreading of the cracks and the roars of the walker, he wasn't quite sure what to do.

"I'm politely asking you to stop!"

When the wallet didn't stop Quarke place a hand to his gun holster and unlocked it. The walker took a step back and threw himself into the window, breaking it. The walker fell to the floor as well, tiny bits of glass were embedded in it's body, arms, and face. The walker picked itself up as Quarke pulled out his gun and pointed it at him.

"I'm warning you!"

The walker regarded Quarke with a tilt of its head as it groaned.

"Do not take another step forward!"

As if insulted by his command, the walker's face contorted with anger. It let out a loud roar into the night sky, this startled Quarke just a bit. The walker look back down at Quarke. It started to run at Quark, but before it could take a second step, the revving sounds of an engine cut through the air as headlights illuminated the walker.

Quarke watched as a car slammed into the walker and sent him flying, broken. The car had come to a stop in front of him and he saw a girl waving to him with a smile in the driver's seat.

Subaru came out from the passenger side and looked at Quarke with a relieved expression and a smile that mirrored the girl's, "Oh thank god we made it on time."

Quarke looked at Subaru, "Subaru? What are you doing here?" He looked back at the walker they had just hit. They had just hit another person right in front of a cop.

His expression went serious, "You just killed a man. I'm taking both of you in." He switched out for his taser and pointed it at Zoey to prevent her from driving away.

Subaru rushed to the other side of the car and stepped in front of Zoey, "Mr. Tenshi, you don't fully understand what's happening right now. We just saved your life, that thing we hit wasn't human. Hell, it's not even dead I don't think!" Subaru looked over at the walker they hit, it was twitching. "Mr. Tenshi, there is something spreading through the city and if we don't leave right now we'll get caught in it."

Quarke looked at the chaos around him. The results of a riot, he was sure...or was he? "What is it that's spreading? How are you sure?"

Now I see where Ram gets her stubbornness.

Walkers started to emerge from various buildings at the sound of the previous walker's roar. It attracted them. Subaru had to hurry.

"Mr. Tenshi, I can't prove it now, but if you don't come with us they will kill you." Subaru pointed towards the small crowd of walkers shambling their way over to them. Most of them were covered in blood.

Quake looked at the crowd and switched the direction of his gun to point at the walkers. "What the hell do they want?" Subaru could tell by his voice that he was scared.

Subaru grabbed the collar of Quarke's uniform and tugged, "The only thing they want to do is eat, eat you. They're not people like us anymore, they're monsters."

"Raaaaghhhhhhhhaaahhhh!"

The collective groaning of the walkers shook Quarke down to his core because he had never handled a situation like this. These people were angry, and they were ALL looking at him.

Zoey observed the crowd and called out worryingly, "Subaru, we have to go now!" She was ready to take off, but didn't want to leave Subaru.

At the sound of her voice, one of the blind walkers ran at them. His hands extended and grabbed at the arm. A long stream of bloody saliva trailed behind him as he ran straight at Quarke.

Quarke kicked the walker in the chest. The walker only stumbled a bit before charging again. This time, Quarke shot the taser at the walker. It fell to the floor, spasming, throwing its limbs around in almost every direction as it rolled back and forth onto its stomach. A terrible wailing escaped its mouth as it threw itself around horrifically.

Quarke backed up at the displeasurable sight, a look of shock crossed his face and was replaced with fear as the rest of the crowd responded to the downed walker with yet another collective moan.

"RRRRAAAHHHHGRGHHAAA!"

All at once, the mob of walkers ran at Quarke, intending to kill.

Subaru threw open the door of the backseat and jumped in, he then grabbed Quarke's collar and pulled him in, he yelled at Zoey, "Floor it!"

Subaru pulled with all his strength to get the scared Quarke into the car. The door shut just as the walkers slammed into it. The full force of multiple walkers hitting the car, shoving it to an angle.

Zoey yelped as she slammed her foot on the gas. The car skidded in its place for a second before taking off. The crowd of walkers sprinted to catch the car, but were too slow. Despite being too slow to catch up to them, the walkers still ran in the general direction they were going, unrelenting.

Just when they had thought all was calm, a sudden bump came from the roof of the car. Zoey almost swerved off the road when a walker from the roof of the car appeared in the windshield. It's bloodshot eyes took in all three uninfected people, as it roared through the glass.

The walker threw its arms and head back repeatedly as it pounded onto the glass. Zoey screamed as it broke through the glass and started to reach at her.

Shock took over Subaru as the walker tumbled into the passenger seat of the car. As it reached for Zoey she yelled, "Hang on!" She slammed on the brakes. Subaru and Quarke barely had enough time to brace themselves against the back of the seats.

Subaru expected the walker to fly out the windshield Ike in the movies, but instead, the walker hit the dashboard with a sickening crack as some of its ribs broke. The time it took for the walker to recompose itself was enough for Zoey to pull out her Cobra and put the barrel against its forehead. It looked at Zoey as she pulled the trigger. The bullet shattered its skull and turned its brain to mush.

Quarke and Subaru stared as she nonchalantly reached across the dead walker and opened the door. Using her foot, Zoey shoved the walker out the door and onto the asphalt.

She turned her head to look at the two men behind her, "So, where you two headed?"

Just as she said that a man wearing all black appeared out of nowhere and held a gun up to Zoey from outside the passenger door. The lower half of his face was covered by a skull mask.

"Get out of the car!" His voice sounded young and hesitant. It seemed he didn't want to do this, but felt he had no choice.

Zoey held her hands up as he shined a flashlight on her face.

"Set out of the car and leave the gun!"

Zoey did as she was told, giving the man a cold look.

The man turned to Quarke and Subaru, "And you two, step out!"

Quarke was the first to step out, trying to size up the obviously scared man. Knowing that this man was doing what he had to do to escape the walkers, Quarke said, "You don't have to do this, you don't want to."

The man's eyes scrunched together as he said nervously, "Y-You don't know what I want, old man!" He shook the gun at him.

Quarke was slowly scooting his way closer to the man until he was able to lunge across and smack the gun out of his hand. He grabbed the man's shirt and used his left leg sweep him off his feet. Quarke sent the man into the air and brought him down with his hands that were at the man's chest. The wind was knocked out of the man as he fell flat on his back, hard.

A faint whimper came from the man as he laid motionless on the ground, his eye staring at the night sky. Quarke's fist finished him off and rendered him unconscious.

Having never seen Quarke in action, Subaru proudly commented, "Badass, Mr. Tenshi, badass."

Zoey bowed at Quarke and did a three fingered golf clap. "Thank you, sir. Man, I keep getting my ass saved today."

Quarke lifted the man into his arms and threw him into the back of the car. Zoey's widened her eyes as she looked at Quarke, "Woah, woah, woah. What are you doing? We're not bringing him!" He just looked up at Zoey as he slammed the door shut.

"He may have tried to do us wrong, but if we leave him here I don't know what will happen to him. Those people we saw earlier were not safe. Leaving him would mean his death."

"So you didn't believe us then, but now you believe us?"

Quarke looked away from Zoey to stare at an overturned car with a mangled body next to it. The head was gone, but it's abdomen was torn open, organs were spilled everywhere. "I think I've seen just about enough to know how serious of a situation we're in."

Zoey stomped her foot, "That may be so, but I'm still not taking that guy! Leave him in a building or something, I don't know! At least that way he'll have a chance when we leave him."

Quarke glared at Zoey, "I am an honorable man and I will not let him die at the hands of those people! What he did was to ensure his own safety! He was looking to survive and we will help him survive!"

"He was going to leave us for dead! He didn't care what would happen to you so why do you care?!"

In the distance the walkers were still running towards them. They had followed the street and must have heard their yelling and were moving to their location. The screams and moaning of the walkers filled the air as they charged down the street and towards the car. More walkers had joined in chase, having heard the wailing of the other walkers, like a rallying call.

Subaru slammed on the roof of the car to stop the two from arguing any longer, "I know you guys want to continue this, but we've got to move now. I say we keep him until we decide what to do with him," he looked at Zoey, "...fair?"

Zoey's eyes glanced across both Quarke and Subaru, who were staring at her. She thought for a moment, looking in the distance, towards the incoming wave of infected. They jumped onto cars, setting off alarms, bringing more infected towards them. If they left now they could leave them in the dust and the walkers would have no way of finding them.

She opened the door to the driver's side, saying before she sat in the seat, "Get in."

Subaru sat in the passenger's seat while Quarke sat in the back to keep an eye on the man. Once again, the car took off, leaving tire skid marks in it's wake.

Quarke unloaded the 9mm pistol the man had pulled on them, "Empty. Didn't have anything."

Zoey looked at him from the rearview mirror resentfully, "Maybe he stole that from somebody too."

Quarke put the clip back into the gun, "Wouldn't you if you had to make that decision?"

"What happened to your 'honorable man' act?"

"Who's to say he didn't take it from someone who wasn't as fortunate as him?"

Zoey looked back at the road, starting to regret ever helping Subaru find Quarke. "How close are we?"

Subaru looked at the street signs, "Not far, we'll have to dump him soon." He looked at Zoey, wondering if she went to his school. "So I've never seen you around here."

Zoey put on a bitter smile, "Not surprised. I went to college as a film major, but I usually just stayed home watching movies, but then this all went down tonight so I guess all that's in the past."

"I'm sure all this will blow over, the government will take care of it." Subaru didn't sound so hopeful when he said this. The infection had destroyed a city in a matter of hours, who was to say it wouldn't spread to the whole country by next week. Then the world in only a month. It was a scary thought, but he had to hope that the situation would be under control.

"You better hope you're right."

All three had come to an agreement that they would leave the man on the side of the road at a good distance from Quarke's house. If he wasn't awake by then, then they would wake him up so he was able to defend himself. Quarke felt he needed to let the man have a weapon at least and removed his Glock 19 from it's holster. Removing 5 rounds, he put them into the man's gun to ensure he had enough to protect himself. He wasn't sure if the man would use them as a weapon against other people, but it was a risk he was taking in order to help him. He just hoped this act of kindness would change the man.

Quarke called out to Zoey when they stopped at the next corner, "Here's good."

Exiting the car, Quarke went to the other side to remove the man, who was still unconscious. He dragged the man to rest against a nearby tree. Slapping him awake, Quarke told the man that what he did was an act of mercy. If he didn't take him, the man would be dead. He then showed the man that he had put ammo into the clip.

"I hope you use it wisely." Quarke said in a voice that made it clear to the man to use it only in self defense, "Do you understand?"

The man nodded vigorously.

Quarke kept the clip in his hand as he set the gun on the man's lap. The man watched as he walked back to the car and got in. Just as they drove away, Quarke threw the clip with 5 precious rounds in it, out the window.

Zoey pulled the car up to Quarke's house, "This is it?"

Subaru answered for him, "Yeah, thanks for the ride."

She put a hand up and humbly said, "Hey, it was no big deal, I was glad to return the favor since you saved my ass." Zoey stepped out of the car but left the engine running, "Hey, old man." Quarke looked at her, "You saved my ass too, I won't forget that."

Quarke smiled and nodded at her.

Zoey puffed up her cheeks and blew air out, drumming the roof of the car with her fingers, "Well, so I've gotta get going."

Subaru looked at her, surprised that she was leaving them so soon, "What? Where are you going?"

"I'm headed out of state to make sure my family's OK."

Oh my god.

Finding Quarke, befriending Zoey, and having the run in with the guy that tried to rob them had made him completely forget that his parents were missing. He felt like his whole mission was a bust. Do I have to start over?

Subaru's eyes glanced across the gun holstered at Quarke's hip. He grimaced, already feeling the bullet penetrating his skull. I don't want to die…...but I guess I have to. The only way to find out where his parents were was to die over and over again until he found them again.

"You OK, Subaru?"

Quarke's voice broke him out of his trance. He said uncertainly, "Oh, me? Yeah, I'm OK."

Quarke saw the look on Subaru's face, and guessed what he was thinking, "Don't worry, Subaru they're fine. They said they would be, and I trust they will be."

Subaru looked at him questionably, "What do you mean?"

"They went into hiding to escape the riots. Them and other people were escorted out of the city by some CEDA people." He looked worryingly at Subaru, "Did they not tell you?"

"What are you talking about?" Subaru marched up to Quarke, "What were they supposed to tell me?"

Quarke put space between them, "Listen, I escorted them to the evacuation point, but I wasn't allowed to ask questions. They said it was only a minor threat and that it would be handled in due time. Your parents told me that they were going to call you, but I guess they didn't."

"No shit they didn't! Where are they?"

"Like I said, I don't know. I'm sorry, Subaru, but just know that they'll be safe with CEDA. Maybe something came up and they couldn't call you."

CEDA, the Civil Emergency and Defense Agency, they were supposed to protect Americans during times of crisis. If they said it was only a minor threat then what were they doing here? Obviously they knew something, something they're trying to keep secret. Why did mom and dad go with them? They were evacuated, why?

Zoey stood uncomfortably next to her car, not sure on what to do. "Ummmm," she rubbed the back of her head with an awkward smile. "I'm sure they'll be OK, Subaru. Don't worry about them, it just means that they see the infection as a real threat. So they'll probably start evacuating more people...hopefully." It was a cheerful thought, one that didn't help.

Subaru pulled out his phone and called his dad, no answer. Same went for his mother.

It hurt.

5:07am

Zoey was gone, she had left for Louisiana. A long trip, one that she said she was prepared for, mentally wise.

Quarke was rallying Rem and Ram while Subaru stared at his phone, waiting for a text from either his mother or father. None ever came. Why didn't they tell me?

"Subaru-kun, father says we must hide in the basement. Rem doesn't understand why."

Subaru turned to the sound of Rem's voice, he tried to sound hopeful, but failed. "Bad things are happening, Rem, but don't worry help will come soon."

Subaru followed Quarke to the basement, the entrance of which was in the kitchen, surprisingly. Rem and Ram followed closely behind, still unsure about what was happening. Rem had her hands up to her face, scared. Ram was behind her, dragging a blanket with an annoyed, tired look on her face.

Rem caught up to Subaru, "Subaru-kun, father says that people are changing. What is happening to them?"

"I don't know." It wasn't a lie, even after encountering them for so long even he didn't know what exactly was happening. All he knew was that it just happened and he couldn't stop it.

Rem ended up sleeping next to Subaru, from her own insistence, while Ram slept next her dad.

"Goodnight, Subaru-kun."

"Goidnight, Rem."

It was that night that Subaru finally fell asleep, hoping to see the sun when he woke up.

The dark interior of the APC had four occupants. A loving couple, the driver, and a man handling the roof mounted machine gun. The heavy tires of the car crushed the uneven ground below it as it drove across an open field. It's green color blended in amongst the grass it ran it over. Trees and bushes bordered the wide open area as the car powerfully drove through it.

A walkie talkie from the man at the wheel spit static as it was activated from the other line. Intangible muttering came from the device and suddenly cut off soon after. As if knowing what it said, the man pulled the device from his army fatigues and pressed a button, "This is, Foxtrot. Please stand by, ETA 3 hours, over." More static and muttering. "Package is ready for shipping. Please have the LZ clear upon ETA, over." For the last time, the device spit static. "Affirmative, all tangos spotted have been neutralized, over."

In the back, the couple were holding each other. The male, Kenichi, lifted up his phone. It's bright screen displayed Subaru's face and two options, Answer or Ignore. He put the phone down, waiting for it to go away.

The woman, Naoko, felt a vibration in her pocket and brought out her phone as well. Again, Subaru's face popped up with the two options. "Honey, he's calling again."

Kenichi looked sadly at the phone, "Just ignore it, Sweetie. He'll be OK."

Naoko held on tighter to her husband, "But what if he isn't. It'll be all our fault."

He kissed the top of her head, "I promise you, we'll see him again."

"He'll hate us." Naoko started to cry into Kenichi's chest.

Kenichi looked out the window to the sky that was starting to brighten up from the early morning sun, "Yes, I think he will…..but it's for what's best."