August 7th, 2019. 6:00 A.M. - Going back a few hours before Kio and Jay's group vanished.
Kaori and Miyu had just woken up from a short nap inside Kaori's room after crying all night yesterday.
...
At night, while Kaori and Miyu were chatting about random topics before going to sleep, they heard the sound of a car engine outside the house.
Curious of what's happening outside, they stopped chatting and went to the windows to take a look.
The sight of the familiar white Toyota Prius was a pleasant surprise to Kaori.
Although the dried blood and pieces of flesh on the car was clearly visible, they subconsciously ignored it and exclaimed to each other.
"That's my mom and dad's car! Miyu, your parents are in the car too!"
"Yea! It's great that they're safe."
Excitement could be seen in both of their eyes.
It's natural for them to rejoice at their parent's arrival, however, they were both too elated to notice the scratch marks on their parent's bodies.
Their parent's workplace were located in the same office building, so they often go to and from work together.
Outside of work, their family also ate together quite frequently, deepening the bonds between them.
Their parents even planned to become a family together in the future, once Kio and Riko gets married. With how Riko acted towards Kio, it was only a matter of time before her parents discovered her feelings towards him.
Afterwards, they mentioned it to Kio's parents, expressing their intentions to support the young couple.
Since their younger daughters are also friendly with each other, they could already envision the bright future ahead of them.
When the zombie infection started to spread, everything began to crumble.
Even though there was a cheerful mood inside the house, the scene that happened afterwards brought despair upon Kaori and Miyu.
Zombies all around the neighbourhood swarmed the Toyota Prius, preventing it from having any chance to escape.
*Bang! Bam!*
With every second that passed, the glass all around the car started to crack little by little from the impact caused by the constant banging from the zombies.
Knowing that the car won't protect them for long, Kaori's dad restarted his car and stepped on the gas pedal.
The car moved forward a few centimeters, but its speed suddenly decreased. With all the zombies in front, they are unable to drive out of the encirclement of zombies.
All of a sudden, the glass on the front passenger seat shattered and a hand pulled Kaori's mom outside, injuring her from the glass shards in addition to the scratch marks from all the zombie hands trying to grab her.
"NOOO! KEIKO!" Kaori's dad shouted, his voice filled with anguish.
Reaching over, he managed to grab onto his wife's legs before she got completely pulled out of the car.
When he noticed his wife didn't utter anything nor make any movements, tears trailed down his eyes.
Looking towards her, he noticed all the zombies fiercely biting into her body, tearing flesh and entrails with each bite.
Shortly after, the rest of the windows started to shatter in succession.
The zombies grabbed the other three passengers in the car and despite their struggles, it was futile.
"Ughh!!"
"Ahh!!!"
Screaming from the pain of being bitten and scratched, the luster in their eyes soon dimmed.
"MOM! DAD! Noooo!!!!"
*Sob*
Kaori and Miyu cried and screamed at the sight of their parent's gruesome death.
Some of the zombies heard their cries and started making their way towards her house.
'Oh no!'
Noticing the zombie's reaction to their cries, Kaori held back her screams and covered Miyu's mouth with her hands, preventing her from making any more noise.
"Miyu, shhhhh! The zombies will break through the doors and windows if we cry any louder," Kaori uttered in sorrow, her speech was somewhat incoherently due to her crying.
"But… But… Mom and dad were…" Unable to finish what she was saying, Miyu started crying again, albeit somewhat softer this time.
Pulling Miyu into a tight hug, Kaori tried to comfort her.
*Sob*
Kaori also started to cry quietly, being affected by Miyu's sobbing.
Tens of minutes after they witnessed the tragic scene and bawled their eyes out, Kaori managed to calm down a little.
Next, she tried to soothe Miyu's feelings, fully understanding the pain that she's in since both of them witnessed the death of their parents in front of their eyes.
"I… I know, although we can't change what happened to our mom and dad, we have to stay strong for our brother and sister."
"Sister… Right, I need to tell Riko what happened."
Feeling the urge to cry out her grievances to her big sister, Miyu went back to the bedroom and grabbed her phone.
Kaori had her phone near her, so she simply picked it up and called her brother.
Not wanting to hide anything from him, she began to narrate the devastating last moments of their parents to Kio.
Hearing more sobbing sounds from the room, she knew Miyu began to cry after telling Riko what happened.
"Kaori, I know how painful it must feel for you right now, but you need to stay strong for Miyu. Otherwise, you don't know what she'll do in anguish."
Kio tried to calmly instruct Kaori, frustrated that he can't be there for her in person.
"I know Kio, that's what I told Miyu earlier too."
"Kaori, another thing you need to keep in mind. Don't be too loud in the house because the zombies are very sensitive to noise."
"Mmhm, we know. The zombies heard us earlier and swarmed our house. But luckily they didn't break through the door or windows."
"Okay that's good. Listen, we'll try to get over there as soon as we can, but we can't move until there's an opportunity. Just stay safe inside the house until we get there."
"Alright. I'm gonna check up on Miyu, I'll talk to you later."
"Ok, take care of each other Kaori, stay safe."
"Bye."
After hanging up, Kaori walked towards her room to see how Miyu is doing since she didn't hear any more wailing sounds.
Reaching her room, she noticed Miyu asleep on her bed, with tears still wet on her cheeks.
'She must've cried herself to sleep after the call with Riko,' Kaori thought, aware of how much pain Miyu must be in right now. 'Although she's usually cheerful, that scene must've traumatized her.'
Climbing into the bed beside her, Kaori pulled the bedsheets to cover them and gently hugged Miyu, trying not to wake her up.
Recalling the heartbreaking scene that she just witnessed, she began to think pessimistically.
'What if Kio and Riko dies before they reach us here? What will we do then…'
'Or, what if those zombies break into the house and get to us before they get here…'
Knowing that she should stop thinking so negatively, she shook her head a bit, clearing out all the negative thoughts.
After a long period of silence, soft breathing sounds could be heard from the room as Kaori fell asleep.
***
Early in the morning, Kaori and Miyu woke up at practically the same time.
"Morning Miyu… How are you feeling?"
"Mmm… Good morning Kaori, I feel awful, but I think I'm okay for now…"
After yawning and rubbing their eyes a bit, they could see how swollen each other's eyes are.
"Miyu, go wash your face, you look pretty bad right now. What if Kio and Riko come home soon and see it?"
"Ah! Okay, let's go together."
"Kay."
After cleaning themselves up in the washroom, they ate some food for breakfast in silence.
With such a heavy mood around them, they didn't know what to say to each other.
After they finished their breakfast, they both climbed onto the bed in Kaori's room.
Trying to cheer her up, Kaori spoke up, "Hey Miyu-"
Shocked, Kaori stopped her words mid-sentence. In front of her, Miyu's body started to fade, turning transparent.
"Ah! Miyu! What's happening to you!?"
Although she knows that they have to be quiet since there are many zombies around, she couldn't hold back her surprise.
"Eh? What do you mean?"
"You're fading away... what's going on here?"
Looking at her own arms and legs that are quickly fading away, Miyu became speechless. She didn't have a clue on how to answer Kaori's question.
"I… what's happ-"
Before she could finish her words, Miyu disappeared into thin air.
"Miyu...? Miyu! Where did you go?!"
Frightened at the strange phenomenon that occurred, Kaori didn't know how to react.
Deciding to ask Kio for advice, she took out her phone and began to call him.
Sadly, the call couldn't connect to his phone.
Next, she tried to call Riko, and a similar unconnected tone was heard.
She tried calling them a few more times, yet to no avail.
Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself to calm down, and try again later.
With the amount of food they collected from the two houses, she calculated that she will be able to last for at least a few weeks while waiting for Kio and Riko to reach her.
Just yesterday, she witnessed the scene of both Miyu's and her parents' gruesome death, and today Miyu mysteriously disappeared.
Deciding that her only option left is to wait for help from Kio, she spent the next hours in silence until…