Five minutes. Five minutes was all that was needed, and their saviors would arrive.

After valiantly standing their ground at Shintoko Third Elementary School, Takashi Komuro and his bloodied group of survivors were the last ones left to defend the premises, and one last helicopter was en route for their evacuation. They had been evacuating for at least an hour and half, each pick-up of their fellow survivors that had taken refuge in the school drew more and more unwanted attention. Floor after floor had been barricaded and ultimately overrun by 'them', the undead horde, while the remaining survivors fought to hold out long enough to be flown to safety. All that remained was the fourth floor and the evacuation point on the roof, while the rest of the school was swarming with 'them'.

Ammunition was scarce now, but the promise of escape spurred the survivors on, fighting harder with each passing moment. Alice, the recently orphaned youngest member of the group, had refused to leave on earlier flights. While Takashi and the others were willing to force her aboard one of the evac helicopters, Kohta argued in favor of her staying. He had treated her like a child the last time they were cornered in a similar fashion, just before being rescued by Yuriko Takagi, and though Alice was indeed a child, she proved that she had more heart than many of the other survivors they encountered.

The world as they knew it had ended. If any man, woman, or child felt that they should make a stand in the face of such dire circumstances they had every right to stand their ground and fight…

…and so they fought.

"Two minutes! Just two more minutes!" The pilot on the portable radio attached to Kohta's vest could hardly be heard over the echo of gunfire, groans, and the thuds of lifeless bodies hitting the ground.

Dozens upon dozens of 'them' flooded the halls now as they climbed over barricades, some made of tables and desks, and others made of their undead peers. Piles of bodies lined the walls, the stairwells, and everywhere in between. After nearly two hours of combat, even Saeko Busujima's endurance was failing her. Saya, Shizuka, and Alice were serving as support for the fighters of the group, Takashi, Rei, Kohta, and the aforementioned Saeko. Alice's small but agile hands worked to reload Kohta's numerous guns, something she had experience doing from their fight at the Takagi Estate, while Shizuka kept alternative weapons at the ready for Saeko, Rei, and Takashi.

Saya merely shouted orders to bolster morale. At least, that's how she saw it.

With the clock ticking, the group found themselves cornered at a fire exit, nothing more than a metal door shielding the final route to the rooftop from the madness below. With as many of 'them' as they were facing, there was no chance that the fire exit's door would withstand the pressure it would face if the group made their final stand on the roof, a point that was lost on Takashi, the group's leader.

"Komuro, we'll never hold them off if we go to the roof! We have enough of a bottleneck here, it's not worth the risk," Kohta's voice was bold as he shot down Takashi's suggestion, "They get up there and we're all dead, we have to keep fighting!"

Takashi, despite his mantle of 'Leader' that had been given to him by a unanimous decision from his peers, knew when to default to Kohta's judgment when it came to matters of strategy and combat. With a nod, Takashi went back to back with Kohta, shouldering his Ithaca M37 pump action shotgun and pulling the trigger, only to hear a defeated click. There were no more shells, and Alice was struggling to find any more ammo for Kohta's numerous firearms.

"Takashi," Kohta whispered only loud enough for his companion to hear, "Now is the time to head up to the roof. You take the girls. I'll handle the rest."

Takashi said nothing for a moment, unsure just what Kohta meant until the silence between the two of them gave way to enlightenment. Kohta intended to hold 'them' off long enough for the group to escape, and had no plans to make it onto the roof to join them.

"You're a brave guy, Kohta Hirano. You know Saya won't-"

"Go!" Kohta turned about and pushed Takashi into the fire exit, causing Takashi to open the large metal door and follow through with Kohta's plan. He watched behind blood splattered spectacles as Rei, Saeko, Saya, and Shizuka all filed up the stairs behind Takashi. Kohta's focus was jarred as he felt a nudge against his leg, and he turned to find the one who had remained by his side, Alice. She was offering him Saya's fully loaded Kiku Crest Luger P08, given to the Takagi heiress by her mother. It was all that remained of their arsenal. Immediately, Kohta took the Luger and knelt in front of Alice, eyes threatening to burst with tears as he struggled with the thought of her feeling as though he left her as her father had. A massive wave of 'them' approached, reaching the final stretch of hallway before the fire exit, and time was running out.

"Alice, you've been so strong. You are the greatest little sister anyone could ask for. I wish I could go with you, but we have to part ways here. You've followed me, and helped me through a lot of battles," Kohta's throat tightened as his voice fell to a raspy whisper, "Some against 'them', and some against myself. But you can't follow me anymore. From now on, you're going to lead the way. You'll be the biggest little sister in the world for Saya-chan, Takashi, and all the others…okay?"

'They' weren't going to allow any more time for goodbyes, and neither was Kohta. He gave Alice a tight hug, his chubby arms enveloping her completely as he embraced her.

"Goodbye, Alice. Onii-chan loves you."

He pulled away and placed a kiss on her forehead, then gave her a gentle nudge towards Takashi, who had returned to barricade the door and retrieve Alice. As Takashi lifted Alice into his arms, she never once pulled her gaze away from Kohta. Takashi and Kohta shared one final moment before the exit was sealed.

"Takashi," Kohta said with renewed determination, "No one else dies. Do you understand me?"

"Right!"

The two shook hands and the door slammed shut. For one final moment, Kohta and Alice gazed through the sliver of window that was embedded in the door as she and Takashi moved out of view. Kohta's tear stained cheeks lifted as he smiled broadly. Kohta jammed as many useless guns as he could through the door handle so that it couldn't be pushed open so easily, and he turned to face the approaching onslaught of undead.

This was how it was going to end, an unlikely hero standing between death, and the friends he never once dreamed of having. They were his family now, the people he shed blood for, the only people who had ever seen the value in him. There were no more bullies, cruel students, or nightmares of going to school only to feel inadequate. All that remained was a burning desire to protect that which redeemed him from a life he felt so uncomfortable in, his friends.

"Alright you sons of bitches, c'mon!"

On the rooftop, the others had gathered at the makeshift helipad. Saeko gazed towards the door as Takasahi approached with a sobbing Alice in his arms. The captain of Fujimi Academy's kendo club was one of the more observant members of the group, her eyes already welling with tears as she came to terms that her last vision of Kohta would be that of him with that chaotic grin on his face as he opened fire on 'them'. Saya stood at the edge of the rooftop, tapping her foot impatiently.

"Hirano, get on the radio and tell those idiots to fly faster!"

She didn't have a clue.

"Hirano! Get over here and," As the twin-tailed genius swung about, her eyes darted back and forth among the survivors on the rooftop, "Where is Kohta? Is he so fat he can't get up the stairs?"

Her sarcasm couldn't keep her from the realization that hit her like a ton of bricks. With wide eyes, she attempted to run towards the stairs and fetch the boy she been rescued by so many times before. In that moment, she unleashed an outburst unlike any before. Rei caught her, securing Saya in her arms despite all of her kicking and thrashing.

"Let me go! How could you leave him down there Takashi!? Why would you even-"

Takashi watched as Saya's bloody cheeks were washed with her tears. He shook his head and looked back towards the staircase. "It wasn't my idea, Saya."

"Then whose was it!?"

As gunfire echoed from the floor below, a reminder that Kohta wasn't going down without adding to his kill-count a bit more, Takashi exhaled a deep breath. "It was his idea, Saya."

Saya's struggling came to a halt as the distant chopping of a helicopter filled the silent void. Saya had only become truly hysterical in her sobbing once before with the group, her first kill on the day of the outbreak. A drill to the head of one of 'them' left her in a shower of blood.

The shrieks that Saya aimed in the direction of the stairs dwarfed those that echoed throughout Fujimi Academy on the day of the outbreak. Saeko and Shizuka joined Rei in embracing Saya, partly to comfort her, but mostly to ensure that she didn't slip from Rei's hold. Below, Kohta faintly heard Saya's voice between pulls of the trigger. The horde was closing in on him. Running up to the roof now would ruin their evacuation, but for a fleeting moment, Kohta considered it. Knowing that Saya Takagi, the Saya Takagi, cared about him was the most comforting thought that he could have asked for in these final moments.

Kohta slumped against the metal door, his back against the wall as he breathed a sigh of relief. He could just barely hear the sound of the helicopter arriving, in between shouts from Saya. The Takagi family requested that he protect their daughter, and he had done so, but what damage would this cause? He knew all too well the pain of losing a loved one.

A loved one?

He gazed down at the Luger in his palm, barrel still smoking. Kohta was now faced with the decision of becoming one of 'them', or suffering the ironic fate of putting the burning hot barrel in his mouth and pulling the trigger.

A final shot rang out, and then silence.

The repetitive whips of the helicopter's blades above the school brought a smile to Hirano's lips as he dropped the gun by his side, and he savored his final kill as a corpse fell at his feet. The easy way out was no fate for a hero. No fate for Kohta Hirano.

And hey, maybe there would be a cure, maybe it wasn't over.

But then again…

Maybe it was.