IE zombocolypse

Chapter 22

((Sorry for inactivity, school's been killing me and I've got lots of exams coming up so I've been stuck studying.
Also, sorry in advance for this chapter-there's LOADS of exposition in the kind of middle ish part but I had to put it in somewhere.
The next chapter will get back to the action though! ^^))

If things were bad before they were even worse now. There was no time to grieve at all, it was a rather impersonal affair; affecting some more than others. Domon couldn't grieve, only watch as the two children were buried, the dirt slowly covering their still faces. It was another solemn night. There were those that wished to pay their respects alone, and those that couldn't bare to be alone, not now, now that everything had changed.

Domon barely talked for the entire night, some tried to comfort him but he didn't listen to them, his eyes now dull and lifeless-he was no different to a corpse now, belonging in neither world, drifting between the living and the dead.

Death's scythe hung mercilessly over the group. 

Fubuki had taken a turn for the worse, he refused to eat anything-his pre-established guilt taking its toll. Gouenji too was hit hard; all he could think about was Toramoru's confession, he'd pushed him away, completely rejected him with no explanation and now the boy was dead. He couldn't help but feel it was his fault; 'selfish, stupid reasons' Domon had said-that fit the bill perfectly. He replayed the scene over and over again in his mind, 'what if I had just said something different, acted differently, would Toramoru still be with us?' He couldn't seem to find an answer.

The tight-knit group that once stood as humanity's hope against the apocalypse was slowly unraveling at the seams.
The atmosphere was stark with anger and sorrow.
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The next morning no one was in a hurry to get up. Those that did found themselves wandering around aimlessly, not sure what to do with themselves. Arata felt alone for the first time ever, no one talked to him and he couldn't help but think that he was no longer welcome in the group-not like he considered it a group anymore anyway. The divisions began to show themselves the night before; it had begun with angry stares across the room, the slight 'accidental' bump here and there, mutterings under the breath, glances between people in the room.

It was so clear for Arata to see who was on whose side. However, as the day progressed things started to get much more complicated-it was no longer the standard case of mob mentality 'which side are you on?' as he had previously thought, no it seemed like there were four 'groups', each forming under the immense feeling of doom that was slowly consuming everyone and everything.

The first was the 'team' entirely controlled by Fudou; at first it had been  just a group that he could vent his anger to, particularly when it came to the Captain. Gouenji had had his anger heightened over the past few days by Fudou-feeling that Tsunami's actions had endangered not just Fubuki's life but Domon's as well, and he was not happy with that. Kogure had joined too, partly because he enjoyed causing chaos but more so because he just didn't like the idea of Tsunami being in charge of him.

And it was on that same day that Arata had found himself unwillingly 'joining Fudou's team' if you could call it that. It was early morning on the second day after the 'incident', Arata was sitting alone by the window, studying the group when Tsunami walked up to him. The Captain had been polite, asking how the teen was and if he was okay; at this point Arata had no issues with Tsunami whatsoever, sure he felt the situation could have been handled better and sure he could understand some of the frustration of the others, but personally he had nothing against him. Well he didn't until...

"What? You want me to-" "It's just...well morale is at an all time low and on top of that we're running low on medical supplies. And well, you've not been out yet. I'm not saying you have to go out alone, of course not but I know no one else will go out if I ask them to." Arata shook his head in disbelief "B-but I only just got here! And now you just want to send me out already, I don't want to die! You're supposed to be looking after us all aren't you?!" The teen shouted angrily, by now grabbing the attention of those near to him-in particular Fudou.