Here's the last chapter, everyone! Enjoy!

Chapter 10: "Escape"

Unlike the rest of the "normal looking" facility, traveling further back on the fifth floor did NOT resemble a hospital-type setting. Instead, it looked like some kind of weird… sci-fi place that you'd only see in movies. The hallways were much narrower and the wall panels consisted of shiny metallic siding, which currently were smeared with dried blood, large claw marks and dents in some areas. A few of the electronic metal sliding doors were either opened or busted down, revealing darkened rooms inside. Several dead scientists' bodies, which were mutilated beyond recognition, lay scattered on the floor in pools of their own blood throughout the corridor. Strange, large animal-like footprints were also imprinted in the blood as well. To top it all off, most of the ceiling lights above were busted and kept flickering on and off, creating a dark and eerie atmosphere. Overall, the fifth floor was one terrifying place to be.

"SESSHOUMARU!" Inuyasha angrily hollered as he continued to run throughout the corridor, ignoring the mess of bodies and destruction that was all around him. His only concern at the moment was trying to find his half-brother, whom had long since disappeared from view.

Spotting an open door up ahead that had a small amount of light pouring out into the hallway, he became angrier as he practically sprinted towards that room. 'He must be in there!' He mentally concluded as he finally made his way to the open door. Once he entered, he quickly scanned his surroundings.

The room, in which Inuyasha was now standing in, was VERY large. Many strange looking capsules were lined side-by-side amongst most of the walls. Inside the capsules were weird reptilian-looking specimens, which were almost the size of a regular human male. They had green scaly skin and had large hands and feet, all adorned with sharp long white claws. All of the creatures were sustained in some kind of thick, yellow liquid inside the capsules and appeared to be in a state of sleep.

Also scattered around the room were various technical machinery and monitors that kept making beeping sounds and other weird noises. Off to the left side of the room, was a small office that looked like someone had trashed.

Finally, Inuyasha spotted Sesshoumaru, who was smirking evilly. He was standing in the middle of the room, next to a much larger capsule than the others. The specimen inside was different as well. It was at least seven feet tall and had pale white skin that coated its heavily muscled body. Its right arm appeared normal looking while the left one partially resembled what looked to be a giant claw of some sorts. The creature also had long white hair, which was floating atop its head in the thick, blue liquid inside the capsule. Its face, which surprisingly appeared to look like a normal humans', seemed… familiar somehow. Metal tubes and wires were also injected into the specimen's flesh, most likely to monitor its status.

"Ahh, it seems you've caught up to me, little brother!" Sesshoumaru playfully stated as he remained where he stood with his arms crossed in front of his chest.

"No shit, Sherlock!" Inuyasha angrily spat as he glared hatefully over at his half-brother.

Sesshoumaru smirked. "You surprised me, Inuyasha. Really, you did!" He remarked in a mocking tone. "I thought that you would've been dead by now."

Inuyasha snorted. "A few zombies ain't gonna stop me just 'cause I'm fully human right now!" He smartly retorted and then spoke in a much darker tone. "I've come to kill you, you bastard!"

Sesshoumaru laughed like a maniac. "So, you've come to avenge your whore-of-a-mother's death I see." He stated, still chuckling.

Inuyasha growled. "You've taken away YEARS of my life, making me believe that my mother was still ALIVE somewhere…!" He angrily said through clenched teeth. "WHY? You hate me just as much as I hate you, so WHY did you keep me around all this time, even after you killed her?"

Sesshoumaru evilly smirked. "Because it amused me to see you suffer like the way you did." He heartlessly stated.

Just then, Kouga entered the room.

"Oh, there you are, Kouga." Sesshoumaru replied in a bored manner. "I was wondering when—"

"Shut your fucking mouth, you piece of slime!" Kouga interrupted suddenly as he started growling.

Taken aback in mild surprise, Sesshoumaru quickly recollected his composure and glared over at the other Demon. "What's the meaning of this outburst?" He angrily questioned. "Don't you realize who you're messing with?"

Kouga glared hatefully at Sesshoumaru. "I don't give a shit anymore!" He angrily declared. "You killed Ayame and Kagura, and now I'm—"

"Going to get revenge, correct?" Sesshoumaru answered for Kouga in a bored tone. "I swear you two are the most predictable idiots in the world…"

Inuyasha and Kouga both just growled.

"Enough of this petty talk!" Sesshoumaru suddenly declared as he turned around and started pressing various buttons on a control panel that was at the base of the large capsule. "I have a surprise for the both of you, especially you little brother!"

The blue liquid inside the capsule started draining quickly and within a matter of seconds, the capsule was completely free of the liquid. After a moment, the creature abruptly opened its blank, milky white eyes and slowly moved its head down to observe the three men who were standing within the room.

Sesshoumaru smirked. "Let me introduce you to Specimen #26: the Tyrant," He stated in a sadistic manner. "Or what was once known as our… father, Inuyasha."

Inuyasha unknowingly took a step back in shock with a horrific look upon his face. "You heartless, sick bastard!" He spat with disgust in his voice, unable to tear his gaze away from his former "father".

'I've got a bad feeling about this…' Kouga mentally thought in slight panic as he too, kept his gaze on the large Tyrant inside the glass-covered capsule.

Suddenly, the Tyrant balled its right hand into a fist and then slowly moved its arm back. In one powerful motion, its large fist connected with the front glass of the capsule and instantly shattered it, sending shards of glass flying out all over the place. The Tyrant then jumped out of its confined space and landed loudly down onto the floor beside Sesshoumaru.

Without so much as a flinch, Sesshoumaru casually looked up at the Tyrant, showing no fear whatsoever. He then gestured his left hand over towards Inuyasha and Kouga and pointed his finger at them. "KILL THOSE TWO!" He loudly commanded in a serious tone.

The Tyrant didn't move. Instead, it slowly moved its head over to the side and stared down at Sesshoumaru with an expressionless face.

"What the hell are you looking at?" Sesshoumaru angrily questioned in mild confusion. "I said for you to—"

Without warning, the Tyrant suddenly thrust its claw-like arm right through the middle of Sesshoumaru's abdomen, which then came out through his back. Blood literally started pouring out from his stomach and back as he started to make gasping sounds. The Tyrant then slowly raised the Demon into the air, as if he weighed nothing.

Inuyasha and Kouga just stood there in utter shock and fear as they couldn't help but watch the horrific scene that was taking place right before their very eyes.

Sesshoumaru continued to dangle helplessly with wide, shock-filled eyes as he grunted in pain and tried to wriggle himself free of the Tyrant's hold. "Y-you c-can't dis… disobey… m-me!" He stuttered as he struggled to talk and breathe at the same time.

Ignoring Sesshoumaru completely, the Tyrant swung its massive arm back, with the Demon still impaled, and then carelessly threw him all the way over across the room with lightning speed. Sesshoumaru's body collided loudly with the wall with such a great force that he managed to put a large dent and several cracks into the wall, along with his blood splattering all over the place. His body then slid down onto the floor with a loud, sick 'thump'. After a moment, the Tyrant's attention then turned towards other two men who were still standing within the room.

'Oh shit…' Inuyasha mentally thought win panic as he stared with wide eyes at the slowly approaching Tyrant. He started feeling sick in the gut, thinking about how easily the Tyrant took out his older half-brother. "Wh-what the hell should we do?" He questioned out loud in an unsure tone as both he and Kouga started taking slow steps backwards.

Still unable to tear his gaze away from the Tyrant, Kouga gulped nervously. "I… I don't know, man!" He blurted out in a stuttering tone, trying desperately to think of some type of a plan. 'That THING just took out Sesshoumaru as if he were nothing! How in the HELL are we supposed to beat this thing?' He mentally declared in panic.

Suddenly without warning, the Tyrant broke out in a short burst of speed towards Inuyasha and Kouga with its clawed arm raised high up into the air, ready to annihilate its victims. But both men managed to jump out of the way just in time before it could even touch them.

Inuyasha immediately turned around to face the Tyrant, as did Kouga who was over on the opposite side of the Tyrant, and quickly loaded new clips into both of his Uzi's.

The Tyrant seemed confused for a moment before it took notice of where its victims were. It slowly looked over to the left and spotted Kouga, who was just standing in a defensive stance. Without warning, it quickly broke out into a short sprint and rammed its solid muscled shoulder right into the middle of the Demon's body, which sent him flying backwards a couple of feet, landing forcefully down onto the hard floor.

Kouga groaned in pain as he struggled to pick himself up off of the floor. Upon hearing heavy footsteps, he looked up and noticed that the Tyrant was slowly approaching him. "SHOOT THE DAMN THING, WILL YA?" He hollered, hoping that Inuyasha had heard him. 'Damn…' He thought with a pained scowl upon his face as he clutched his hurting midsection. 'I think a couple of my ribs are broken…'

"I'M ON IT!" Inuyasha hollered back as he clicked off the safeties on both guns, then immediately started firing away at the Tyrant's back.

The Tyrant didn't seem to be fazed by the many bullets that kept connecting with its flesh, even as blood spurted from its wounds. It just kept making its way towards Kouga. When it finally got within three feet of the Demon, it swung its massive clawed arm back and prepared to strike.

Kouga managed to jump out of the way in time without getting decapitated, putting more distance between he and the Tyrant.

By now, Inuyasha had used up almost all of his Uzi clips—even the ones that were all strapped to his chest. 'Damn! Why won't this thing die already?' He thought in frustration as he loaded his last two Uzi clips into both guns. After firing a few more times at the Tyrant's backside, he suddenly heard the dreaded clicking sound coming from both guns. Angry, he then hastily threw both guns down onto the floor and quickly grabbed his Magnum gun, which was still tucked onto the side of his belt, and resumed with shooting once again at the Tyrant.

This time, the Tyrant's face contorted into an unreadable expression as it suddenly stopped its pursuit against Kouga. Seemingly annoyed, it slowly turned around and started heading back towards Inuyasha.

'SHIT! It's coming after ME now!' Inuyasha thought in panic as he started backing up even more, still firing at the Tyrant.

'I have to stop it!' Kouga mentally declared as he slowly got back onto his feet and took off in a somewhat sprint, then jumped onto the Tyrants back, digging both of his claws right into the middle of its shoulder blades.

The Tyrant made a sort of grunting sound as it tried to shrug Kouga off its back but was unsuccessful. It then wildly swung its clawed arm around to try and hit him off, but failed as well.

Inuyasha immediately stopped firing so he could jump out of the way to avoid the Tyrant's swinging clawed arm, which just nearly sliced his head off.

Getting fed up with the annoying Demon on its back, the Tyrant slowly stomped over to the nearest wall and then immediately started ramming its back up against it, trying to make the Demon let go of it.

Even though it hurt like hell getting slammed repeatedly against the wall, Kouga stubbornly remained on the Tyrant's back, digging deeper and deeper into its flesh with his claws.

The Tyrant then staggered forward and tried forcefully twisting its body to the side, which resulted in Kouga finally falling off its back. It then raised its left foot in the air, getting ready to stomp down on Kouga who was lying on the floor still.

"WATCH OUT, KOUGA!" Inuyasha hollered in worry. Before he even knew what he was doing, he suddenly dropped the Magnum and started running towards the Tyrant. When he got close enough, he jumped up and grabbed a tight hold of its left arm, which got the Tyrants' attention.

The Tyrant swung its left arm to the side, sending Inuyasha roughly down onto the hard floor a couple of feet away, right in front of the Tyrants' broken capsule.

In the meantime, Kouga had somehow managed to slip past the Tyrant and made his way over to Inuyasha's Magnum, which was still lying on the floor. "OVER HERE, BIGFOOT!" He yelled out loud to get the Tyrants attention—which it did. He then immediately started firing away.

Inuyasha groaned in pain and rolled over onto his right side. 'Damn that hurt…' He thought as he reached over to touch his injured shoulder—only to find that a large, hand-sized shard of broken glass was sticking out from the back. For a moment, he felt sick at the sight of seeing his own blood, but then quickly shook the thoughts from his head. Gathering as much inner courage as possible, he tightly grabbed onto the piece of glass, deeply cutting up his hand in the process, and pulled with all his might while yelling loudly with pain. When he finally got the glass out, he threw it off to the side and clutched his throbbing and bleeding shoulder with his shaky hand.

"INUYASHA!" Kouga called out suddenly, which got the half-Demon's attention, as he kept firing at the Tyrant and backing out towards the exit. The expression in his eyes showed fear, yet determination as he shouted out his next statement. "GET KAGOME AND THEN GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!"

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?" Inuyasha shouted back in a confused tone as he started to pick himself up from off of the floor.

"JUST DO AS I SAY, DAMN IT!" Kouga loudly ordered as he quickly sprinted out the door, the Tyrant stomping after him in hot pursuit.

Breathing heavily, Inuyasha just stood there for a second, feeling dumbfounded. 'What the hell should I do? I can't just leave him to fight the Tyrant all by himself!' He frantically thought with worry as he jogged towards the exit. '…But I have to get Kagome out of here first! I don't want that thing going after her next!' After exiting the room, he quickly started jogging back to where he had left Kagome behind.

Despite his injuries, Kouga had made it all the way down to the lower basement levels within a matter of minutes and was currently heading back towards the Reactor Room. The Tyrant was still chasing after him, but at a much slower pace now. It seemed that the Tyrant was only able to sprint in short distances, which was lucky for Kouga or he would've never been able to make it as far as he did.

He quickly ran inside the office and then straight into the room where the reactor was. Ignoring Manten's lifeless body that was still lying face down on the floor, he went right for the main control panel that was in the middle of the room. He quickly took out the set of keys from his pants pocket and fumbled around until he found the right one. He then inserted the correct key into the required keyhole and turned it to the left. 'You had better be out of here by now, Inuyasha…!' He mentally declared with a worried frown as he pressed a large red button that was next to the key.

Almost immediately, a loud emergency siren went off and an automatic feminine voice kept repeating:

"WARNING! THE SELF-DESTRUCTION SEQUENCE HAS BEEN ACTIVATED! ALL PERSONNEL PLEASE EVACUATE THE FACILITY IMMEDIATELY! WARNING! THE—"

Just then, the Tyrant finally appeared in the doorway behind Kouga.

Kouga turned around and smirked triumphantly. "Hey there, freak!" He smartly taunted, knowing for a fact that he'd never make it out of the building in time. He settled for the fact that he'd be dying for a great and noble cause; destroying the Demon Corporation and all of its sick and twisted experiments. "This place is gonna blow sky-high, and I'm taking your sorry ass down with me!"

The Tyrant loudly roared in an inhuman tone and quickly sprinted right over towards Kouga, stabbing him right through the center of his chest with its clawed arm. It then raised the Demon high up into the air and stared at him with its blank, white eyes.

As Kouga dangled helplessly in the air, he somehow kept a smirk on his face even though he was in immense pain. 'Now I'll be able to… see Ayame… once again…' Those were his last thoughts as his eyes closed for the very last time as he finally departed the world of the living.

"KAGOME!" Inuyasha called out as he ran towards the frightened girl, who was standing in the middle of the hallway with a concerned expression upon her face as red emergency lights kept continuously flashing, along with a recorded voice echoing throughout the entire area about declaring a self-destruction sequence being activated. Once he finally reached her, he quickly grabbed her by the hand. "We've got to get out of here!" He frantically stated as he put her arm around his shoulder, even though it hurt like hell due to his injury, and started helping her walk along as they started making their way down the hallway.

"What about Kouga?" Kagome asked in a worried tone as she struggled to walk as fast as she could with Inuyasha. "We can't just leave him behind…!"

"There's no time!" Inuyasha declared as they finally found the stairwell and started climbing up the stairs to the sixth floor. He silently thanked Kouga for what he did, and vowed to never forget his great sacrifice for them.

When they finally reached the sixth level, they discovered that it was some sort of large receptionist area. Chairs and tables were overturned and many papers and documents were scattered all over the floor, along with streaks of dried bloodstains. There were also a few lingering zombies standing around as well, but the pair easily made it past them and headed straight for the main stairwell that led up to the outside.

Just before they finally exiting the building, the overhead voice called out:

"WARNING! TEN MINUTES UNTIL DETONATION! EVACUATE THE PREMISES IMMEDIATELY! WARNING! TEN MINUTES UNTIL—"

It was still dark and raining outside as Inuyasha and Kagome desperately made their way as fast as they could through the dense forest, trying to get as far away as possible before the lab facility exploded. Lightning streaks appeared every so often in the sky, along with loud thunder clapping every now and then, making the night seem even more dreadful than what it already was.

Kagome's feet suddenly stumbled over a fallen tree branch, which resulted with her tripping and falling forward down onto the cold and muddy earth, almost bringing Inuyasha down along with her. She panted heavily as they both tried helping her to stand on her feet once more. "I… I can't run… any… more…" She struggled to say in between breaths. The medicine that she was injected with earlier was already starting to wear off, causing all the dizziness and pain from her wounds to return once again. "Just leave me! I'll only slow you down…!" She demanded as tears of frustration started welling up within her eyes.

Without saying a word, Inuyasha quickly yet carefully hoisted Kagome up over his other uninjured shoulder and then continued to flee, with much more difficulty this time. He felt extremely exhausted and almost every single muscle within his entire body ached. His burning lungs screamed for him to stop and catch his breath, but his will to live and escape this hellish nightmare was all the encouragement that he needed to keep pushing on.

As Inuyasha continued to hurriedly make his way through the forest with Kagome draped over his shoulder, tightly clutching the back of his black tank top, she suddenly looked up upon hearing the sounds of distant growling and spotted one of those dead hounds chasing after them at a very quick rate. Her eyes widened in fear as a dreadful feeling built up within her gut. "INUYASHA!" She screamed out loud, along with a loud thunderclap sounding off at the same exact time.

But Inuyasha never heard her call his name because of the loud thunderclap and therefore kept struggling to run.

Fearing for her and Inuyasha's life, Kagome hastily grabbed the gun that she had previously tucked inside a bit in the back of her pants and quickly clicked off the safety and tried aiming at the approaching hound, but it was sort of difficult to do so in her position. When she thought she had the gun aimed well enough, she took the chance and pulled the trigger, but the bullet missed the hound by a couple of feet.

The loud gunshot finally caught Inuyasha's attention. "WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?" He practically screamed out loud in a confused tone as he continued make his way through the dense forest.

"SOMETHING'S CHASING US!" Kagome hollered over her shoulder as she concentrated on aiming once again. "JUST KEEP RUNNING!" She pulled the trigger and this time, the bullet hit its target—right into the hounds' backside. She then continued to fire shot after shot at the beast until a bullet finally hit it in its head, killing it instantly.

A moment later, a sudden loud 'KA-BOOM!' erupted throughout the forest and at the same time caused the earth shake violently, which knocked Inuyasha off his feet and sent both he and Kagome down onto the muddy ground. They both instinctively covered their heads with both of their hands, wondering if they were far enough away from the blast to survive or not.

Behind them in the far distance, a humongous orange-grayish mushroom cloud formed high up into the night's sky—where the Onigumo Mansion and Shikon Corporation lab facility once stood.

A few minutes had passed by when finally the forest became calm once more and the only thing you could hear was the sound of rain pelting down upon the earth. Finally, Inuyasha and Kagome slowly picked themselves up off of the cold, muddy forest floor with shaky legs. They then looked over at each other with surprise and relief in their eyes.

"Are you ok?" Inuyasha asked with concern as he approached Kagome.

"Yeah," Kagome plainly answered as she put her left hand over her sweaty forehead. "I just feel like crap though…"

A worried expression appeared upon Inuyasha's face as he carefully picked Kagome up bridal style. He then resumed with continuing his journey through the forest, only this time he chose to walk at a leisurely pace, since he was too weak and tired to jog anymore.

"My jeep's parked alongside the road next to the woods…" Kagome quietly informed as she rested her head against Inuyasha's chest, listening to his rhythmic heartbeat. "The keys should still be in the ignition..." She then mumbled to herself, finally letting her exhausted body relax a little.

After what seemed like the longest time, Inuyasha had finally made it out of the dense forest and onto the main road. Not too far down the road, he spotted Kagome's parked jeep, right where she said she'd left it. He made his way over to the vehicle and checked for the keys, which were still in the ignition as well. He then helped Kagome into the passenger side seat and buckled her seatbelt for her and then made his way over to the driver's side and got in as well, also buckling his seatbelt.

"…Have you ever driven a vehicle before?" Kagome hesitantly questioned in a tired tone as she watched Inuyasha hesitate before turning on the vehicle's ignition, looking lost for a moment, like he didn't have a clue as to what to do next.

"Of course I have!" Inuyasha smartly snapped as he fumbled with the gear clutch down next to his seat. "I just… never drove a jeep before!" 'Oh, who the hell am I kidding? I've never driven ANYTHING before in my entire life!' He mentally admitted as he stared at the steering wheel in front of him for moment. 'Kagome can't drive right now, so I have no choice… Besides, how hard can driving be anyway?'

After a few unsuccessful tries and almost sliding off the road and colliding into a patch of trees, Inuyasha finally figured out how to drive the "stupid thing"—as he called it—and was currently speeding the jeep down the mountainside road, with Kagome tightly gripping the sides of her seat out of fear, mentally vowing never again to let him do the driving.

About a half an hour later, they finally made it out of the mountains and into the small "hic town" that was on the outskirts of the city. They also noticed, to their relief that the sky was turning into a slightly bluish tint, signaling that dawn would soon be approaching.

As Inuyasha slowly drove through the town, he noticed that hardly any cars were parked in the area and that no one seemed to be around anywhere. 'Well, DUH moron!' He mentally scolded himself. 'Of course no one's around! Technically, it's still night time, so of course everyone's still sleeping!' Taking a quick glance over at Kagome, he noticed that she looked like she was ready to pass out. "Are you alright?" He asked in a concerned tone as he kept his eyes focused on the road ahead of him.

"A little bit I guess. I just feel so tired though…" She quietly replied as she struggled to keep her eyelids open. Suddenly remembering that most of the houses in that area were left abandoned before she made her trip up into the mountains, she sat upright and cleared her throat. "Can we please stop somewhere to rest?" Before Inuyasha could say anything, she continued. "When I drove through here two days ago, I noticed that most of the houses in this area were empty. So I don't think that anyone would really mind if we borrowed their house to rest for a little bit, you know?"

Inuyasha nodded in agreement, for the fact that he was really tired and exhausted as well. "Ok then. We'll stop somewhere to rest for awhile and then leave." He plainly stated as he scanned the area for an abandoned house. When he finally spotted one, he parked the jeep alongside the curb right in front of the chosen house and got out, making sure to grab the 9mm handgun from Kagome. Being cooped up in the Mansion for so long with only demented assholes and hellish creatures and such, he trusted no one and therefore was taking NO chances whatsoever, especially since he was still fully human at the moment as well.

Inuyasha quietly walked up the front porch's creaky wooden steps and approached the front door. There was a metal plated lock attached to the door and the door's wooden frame, preventing anyone from getting into the house. Frowning, he then walked over to one of the two boarded up windows and started prying the large piece of wood off. When the board finally gave away, he set the wooden board down onto the porch and then used the butt-end of the handgun to break the window open near the top—where the lock to the window was. After quickly glancing around the neighborhood to see if anyone had heard him break the glass, he then carefully reached through the small jagged hole in the window and managed to successfully unlock the lock. After quietly hoisting the window open, he made his way back over to the jeep to go get Kagome.

About a few minutes later, both Inuyasha and Kagome, who closed and relocked the window once they made it inside,were quietly snooping around on the first floor in the abandoned house. They noticed that most of the furniture and other household items were completely gone. Only a few framed portraits hanging up on the walls, an old brown leather recliner, a large wooden hutch and a large area carpet that had been rolled up and stored in one of the corners of the living room remained.

Inuyasha made his way out into the kitchen, his stomach starting to rumble with hunger. When he spotted the refrigerator, he immediately walked right over to it and opened its door to find that there was only a half-gallon of spoiled milk, some rotten fruits and vegetables, two bottles of unopened spring water and some moldy cheese inside. Frowning in disgust, he quickly grabbed the two water bottles and then shut the refrigerator door.

By now, Kagome had also ventured out into the kitchen and was currently opening all of the cabinets and drawers, searching for something to eat as well. It'd been at least two days since she had any food, so she was really starved! Finally, she found a large bag of unopened sour cream & onion potato chips and a plastic cookie jar filled with stale chocolate chip cookies. Hastily grabbing both items, she then called over to get Inuyasha's attention and showed him her delicious prizes, which caused him to smile in satisfaction.

Finally leaving the kitchen, both teens then cautiously made their way up to the second floor. After quickly checking all of the rooms to see if anyone was really there or not—which no one was, they then sat down in the middle of the floor in one of the larger bedrooms, which still had furniture in it, and began hungrily downing the chips, cookies and water.

A couple of minutes later after they'd finished eating up all of the food, they both hesitantly laid down on the bed, side-by-side with their backs up against each other's, since the bed wasn't that big, and then almost instantly drifted off to sleep.

A couple of hours had passed by. Slowly opening his tired eyes, Inuyasha found that he was now facing Kagome, who was snuggled comfortably up against his chest and sleeping peacefully. As he carefully reached down to move a few stray bangs away from her face, he suddenly took notice of his hand, which had sharp nails once again. 'Finally! I'm back to my normal half-Demon self!' He mentally exclaimed in happiness. Letting out a huge sigh of relief, his eyes then gazed out the nearby window. It appeared to be about late in the afternoon, due to the sun's golden hues of orange and red cascading down upon the earth. There were some huge clouds in the sky as well, but they didn't look like rain clouds though.

At that moment, Kagome suddenly awoke and tiredly yawned as she slowly sat up on the bed. After blinking her eyes a few times, she then looked down over to her right and noticed that Inuyasha was staring at her, which made her immediately blush. "Hey." She quietly stated with a smile.

"Hey." Inuyasha responded back, half smiling as he too, sat up as well. "How are you feeling?"

Kagome hesitantly touched her injured arm and surprisingly, felt no pain whatsoever. "I'm… fine?" She answered in a surprised tone as she quickly unraveled the bandaging from off of her forearm and found that the bite wound had completely disappeared. "What the…?"

"It's daylight." Inuyasha stated as he got up from off of the bed and walked over to the window. "Our Demon blood kicked back in."

Kagome sighed gratefully. "Oh, thank God!" She exclaimed in relief, trying to hold back the tears of joy that threatened to spill. "I really thought that I was gonna die!"

Inuyasha didn't say anything. He just continued to look out the window. 'Her Demon blood must've countered the virus or something…' He mentally pondered as if sniffed the air. 'She smells normal, too—like when I first met her.' Suddenly, he spotted something unusual outside in the far distance, within the denser part of Raccoon City. "What the hell?" He mumbled quietly to himself with a confused expression upon his face.

Overhearing Inuyasha's comment, Kagome curiously got up off of the bed and walked over to the window to see what he was looking at and then gasped at what she saw.

Heavy, billowing smoke was drifting up into the sky, coming from several different parts of the city. With their excellent vision, Inuyasha and Kagome were able to spot several of the closer tall buildings that appeared to have broken out windows. They even spotted, what looked like a few body's hanging halfway out of them with large bloodstains below the windowsills, trailing down the sides of the buildings.

Kagome's swallowed uneasily as her stomach churned with sickness. "What… happened?" She questioned out loud, not really wanting to know the answer. "You don't think that the virus… spread into the city, do you?"

Inuyasha's face contorted into a disturbed expression as his stomach also churned with sickness. "What else do you think might've happened?" He sarcastically remarked in a dry tone. "A massive riot attack?"

"But you told me that the only way for people to get infected with the virus was if they were injected with it or else bitten by a zombie?" Kagome questioned in confusion as she looked over at her friend.

"Well, that's what Sesshoumaru told everyone at least…" Inuyasha trailed off in a confused tone as he shook his head. "I don't know. Maybe the virus is airborne or something? That or else some of the zombies somehow made it into the city…"

Kagome suddenly gasped in realization. "OH MY GOD! SOUTA!" She loudly exclaimed as she suddenly dashed towards the door. "I HAVE TO SAVE HIM!"

Inuyasha quickly reached out and grabbed her by the arm to stop her. "Are you nuts?" He exclaimed, raising his voice a bit. "Who the hell knows what's lurking around in that damn city! There could be millions of zombies or even more of those monsters, like that damn Tyrant for all we know!"

"Tyrant…?" Kagome questioned as she looked over at Inuyasha with a confused expression.

Inuyasha sighed. "It's a long story." He stated in an annoyed tone, obviously not in the mood to talk about the incident.

Kagome stubbornly yanked her arm out of Inuyasha's hold and then marched over to the bedroom's dresser, and started pulling out various articles of clothing, searching for something clean to wear. When she finally found some clothes that she liked, she then marched out of the room with the clothing in her hands and crossed the hall over to the bathroom.

Inuyasha frowned. "What the hell are you doing?" He asked in a confused tone as he walked out into the hallway as well.

"I'm taking a quick shower," Kagome declared in a serious tone. "Then I'm heading into the city to find my brother—with or without you!" With that last statement, she slammed the bathroom door closed, leaving the frustrated half-Demon standing out in the hallway all by himself.

The End… for now.