Melissa was furious.

She felt as if her very existence was being mocked.

"What would you know?"

Balling her fists, the woman's eyes darkened with rage as she stood firmly in place, boiling over with anger.

Yet despite her rage, everything in her very being told her that she should not take a single step forward.

"What would you know... when you didn't have anything to lose in the first place?"

The cherry red lips of the brunette woman quivered as she suppressed every piece of emotion within her out of pure intuition, not understanding herself that she was even doing so.

"What would I know? Haha..."

Stepping forth, the brown haired woman froze in her place as the black haired woman strode by without making a single sound.

"You may have lost everything... but you only lost what you didn't work for in the first place."

As this was whispered into her ear, Melissa desperately wanted to snap back at the woman.

However, despite telling her body to move, she did not.

Her body was sending off a response that her mind itself did not acknowledge - to stay put.

"I, on the other hand, was born into darkness. And there is nothing more devastating than capturing a flicker of hope... only for it to be extinguished before your very eyes."

"Valerie... why do you always..."

"Ah. Get up, Celia. Are you going to sit there all day? The boss just got angry because of you, you know. What do you think? Should we try and please him again to keep these positions that we worked so hard for?"

Melissa found herself interrupted by the black haired woman known as Valerie, who looked down upon the blonde woman with arms crossed.

"I'm... I'm sorry... because of me-"

"Yes, yes, yes. You can say it was because of you all day long, but that doesn't change the situation. We know it was because of you. So? Are you going to do something about it? Or should we just..."

As the woman put a finger to her lips, a strange smile crept across her face.

"Give up?"

"EH!?"

"W-what!?"

Both Melissa and Celia seemed to shout out in surprise at the words of Valerie, who looked at them with confusion evident in her expression.

"Is it really all that hard to understand? If we can't win, then we can't win. We worked hard to get here, but if we can't please the man on top then there's no point trying to stick around. Am I wrong?"

"B-but... the plan..."

"That's right! We worked so hard to get to this point! YOU worked so hard! How can we just abandon everything like that when-"

"Being so attached to everything is the reason why you're here in the first place."

Silenced at this statement, indignance could barely describe the emotions welling inside Melissa at that moment.

Yet it was at that moment that a voice called out.

"What is going on with you three!? Can't you read the mood enough to know that you should come and comfort me and apologize after such a pitiful display!? Get in here this instant!"

The man who had returned to his room called out in an annoyed tone, at which the three girls were immediately caught to attention.

Without hesitation, the three looked to one another, and with quick nods they stood up and prepared themselves to enter the room.

"Looks like giving up wasn't meant to be. I guess things just happened to work out this time.", Valerie commented.

"As if... you were about to leave...", Melissa whispered.

"Hey, don't fight like that... he... might get angry...", Celia squeaked.

However even despite their differences, the three girls stood before that door resolving themselves as the black haired one opened it without reserve.

"Forgive us, Sir. We seem to have kept you waiting."

----

"Do you three understand why you're here today?"

The three had lined up before the man, standing at attention as they were lectured while he reclined in his bed, sipping on a glass of wine which he had ordered them to retrieve for him.

"You three are here in my chambers because I have high standards for the ones who are closest to me. And the previous group... failed to meet such standards."

Holding out his hand, the man tapped a cigarette at his side, at which Melissa immediately stood forth with a lighter as she fluidly serviced him in a practiced manner.

"I do not consider the three at my side to be mere whores like the rest of the girls in this hotel. You've had plenty of time to practice servicing customers. But that isn't why I've allowed you three to come up to my room. I wish for you three to be able to do all that... and more."

Placing the lit cigarette in his mouth, the man bit down on it with a crunch as he let go, folding his hands with furrowed brows.

"Shit... these things just don't have the strength that a cigar does... who the hell invented these things anyways? For wimps who couldn't handle the real shit... ugh... at any rate... where was I? Ah, right."

Tapping his fingers as he sat up, the man glared at the three women as his eyes fell upon them.

"A secretary to deal with financial and political issues. An assassin to deal with any troublesome figures who appear. And a clumsy fool who couldn’t possibly be suspected of espionage. These are the three positions that were left to be filled after the FAILURES of the previous three."

Leaning forward, the gruff man seemed to smile in a lecherous manner, licking his lips as he thinned his eyes with pleasure.

"The previous three failed... Therefore I decided to give you three a chance, since you seemed to have some promise. But the way things are looking... I'm not quite sure. However... I am not a hasty man."

Raising up his finger, the man slid his legs over so that he was sitting on the bed.

"I'll give you all a chance. Your first job starts tomorrow. I will not be disclosing the details until you are to begin. After all... secrecy is what has allowed us to survive in the darkness for this long. But until then..."

Checking his watch, the man smiled as he saw the time.

[8:59]

"You will entertain me to the fullest."

"I understand, Sir."

"As you wish."

"Whatever you ask of us... we will do."

The three had become compliant, immediately bowing to the man who held control over them as if their lives were in the palm of his hand.

"Good, good... now then... let's see... I suppose I should have some fun? After all, while you must be skilled in your work... you also have to be skilled... as a performer. That IS what you've learned to do in this place."

Standing up, the man looked the girls up and down before nodding.

Then, placing his hands on the shoulders of Celia and Melissa who stood on the right and left of him, he spoke with an intense lust in his eyes.

"Give me a show."

[9:00]

However at that moment, a flash of light burst as the room went dark.

The glamorous decorations around the room seemed to explode in a series of sparks, and in that instant the electric impulses seemed to extend to the four people who stood in that room.

Within that moment, the man felt himself falling backwards into that bed.

'What... is this?'

Landing softly, the three women before him all fell to the ground with thuds, and the man found himself unable to even lift his arm as his eyes closed themselves.

'Why... am I so tired?'

Gritting his teeth in his last moments before the overwhelming exhaustion overtook him, the man frowned in disgust as he looked down upon the blank expressions which now covered the three women, who appeared as if they were nothing more than lifeless dolls.

'And just when I was about to... have fun with these... ones...'

Thus, the curtains rose on the cataclysm within the 4th branch of the Street Rats.

----

'All the food is rotten.'

Sylvia lay awake in the bed in the early morning, remaining perfectly still so as not to disturb the child that was cuddled up beside her.

'Of course, the taps have been contaminated. Anything that comes from a pipeline is guaranteed to kill us off, even if there is anything left in them in the first place. I suppose I could try boiling water... we'd need to either dig a well or collect it from a pond if we did that. Though we're in the middle of the city, and I don't want to collect water from a retention pond. It should be from a natural stream if possible... but even those will probably be polluted the hell out of, unless we reach a rural area.'

Sylvia herself was a zombie.

She had no real need for food or drink. While she could still consume and process it for whatever reason, she no longer ran on such fuel to survive.

However right now, there was a human that Sylvia was in possession of.

'Haha... I guess owning a human really is a hassle, isn't it?'

With a light smile, Sylvia looked down on the girl.

'She looks so innocent in her sleep.'

Her breaths were heavy and raspy as if she had trouble breathing, yet even so the girl was sound asleep as if such a thing did not bother her in the slightest.

'I can't believe that inside this person... no... I suppose I can believe it.'

Closing her eyes, Sylvia rested her head as she thought to herself.

'After all, people are products of their surroundings.'

[That's right.]

As Sylvia closed her eyes, Number One seemed to speak up in agreement as the empty voice filled her thoughts.

[People like to go on about rising above their experiences... about struggling to survive and surpassing whatever challenges you may face... however when people talk about such things, they speak only of small hurdles.]

With a mocking giggle, One seemed to laugh at the very concept of rising above one's experiences.

[But what if before you, instead of a hurdle, is a massive wall?]

Whispering this into the mind of Sylvia, the woman merely grinned as she kept her eyes closed, not saying a word yet only thinking in response.

'Well if there's a wall in front of you... then I suppose there would be only two options.'

And in a cheeky manner, the woman spoke back to the creature within her mind.

'Number One. Jump over it. Number 2. Break through it.'

At that moment, the voices inside the mind of Sylvia seemed to sync up with one another - to the point where Sylvia herself was unsure who was thinking.

[Yet... regardless of which method you choose... you'll end up hurting yourself anyways.]

[So what's the point in trying to overcome a wall... when you can just go around?]

----

[The Day of Awakening]

The sounds of gunshots resounded in the ears of Gerard as he made his way through the empty hallway of the uppermost floor to the hotel.

'Ah... that must be them.'

As his expression turned to a grimace, the large man became filled with an immense irritation as he gripped his own assault rifle tightly.

'How arrogant of them to think that they're allowed to leave without me... hah... I suppose I'll have to teach them a thing or two about how this new world is going to work.'

Making his way to the stairs, the man grinned as his mind was filled with fantasies which even he could never dream of.

'An apocalypse... eh? Things may have been good before... but with this... the entire world is free for the taking. That's right... As few people as there may be left, there are certainly at least some, given that I am still here. Meaning... the one with the most power is the one who will reign.'

Turning the corner on the stairs, the man caught a glimpse of a zombie before loading six rounds into its head.

'And that just so happens to be me.'

----

[Earlier]

"Ugh.... my head hurts... why... why do I feel like I hit my head on something?"

Melissa raised herself from what seemed like an unexpected slumber, struggling to regain her memories as they slowly filled her mind.

"I was... ah... that's right... we were trying to please the boss..."

Her fuzzy vision slowly came into focus as she looked around, only to see two girls next to her lifting their heads groggily as well.

"Eh?"

"Will you be quiet?"

Speaking in an annoyed tone, Valerie opened her eyes slowly as she glared at the brunette with a cold passion, quickly brushing herself off before assessing the situation and standing with her hand close to the gun on her belt.

"Something is off. Were we drugged? No... this seems different. This isn't a mere drug. The man is there asleep... the walls are ruined... everything around us seems to have been destroyed... I believe a large amount of time has passed."

Thinning her eyes with suspicion, the woman pulled out her gun as she aimed at the head of the oversized man who lay drooling in the bed with one arm hanging off it.

"Something happened far beyond our imaginations."

"W-w-w-w-w-"

The blonde haired girl, Celia, seemed to be stuttering and unable to get even a single word out as she looked around her in a daze.

"What.... h-h.... happened?", she squeaked, terror evident in her voice as the girl teared up.

"Doesn't matter. I have 12 bullets. I suppose you all don't have weapons, but that should be fine. Right now we should focus on getting out of here. But first..."

Aiming her weapon directly at the man's head, the woman looked down upon the sleeping person as if he were nothing more than an insect.

"Perhaps... no."

Lowering her weapon, the woman turned around with the swirl of her gorgeous black hair.

"I shouldn't waste a bullet on him."

The woman turned to exit the room without a second thought, at which Melissa shouted out with an annoyed expression.

"Hey! Where... where do you think you're going? You don't even know what's going on, and you're just going to leave?"

"S-she's right... I... I don't think we should-"

"If you two feel like staying here then be my guests. But I have no intention to sit around and do nothing when it would appear as if everything... has changed."

Glancing out the window, Valerie motioned for the other two to look out as well, at which the scene of the City below was revealed to them.

Cars covered the streets, smashed to pieces after having run into buildings and poles and one another.

The asphalt itself was cracked as if the weather had eroded it away, and not a single building was free of rust.

Yet even more so than the widespread destruction, the girls witnessed the people who walked about the streets.

"Hey... that man... he's missing his lower half, isn't he?", Celia whispered as she glared down.

"And that one... is his head gone?", Melissa added.

"And those... those people... whose bodies are stuck in their windshields... did... they get into an accident and fly forward?"

"The one over there... it looks like he was a traffic guard... he's stuck under a bumper... did that guy keep on going straight into him without stopping?"

The two voiced the situation below in disbelief, as if their words themselves were necessary to confirm in their minds what they were witnessing.

"But more than anything... how are they still moving?", Valerie asked without hesitation, forcing the question upon the minds of the two.

And at that moment, there was only one such answer.

"Zombies...", Celia stated quietly.

"They've... become zombies.", Melissa added.

"Monsters.", the two agreed in succession.

As the two voiced their thoughts, they heard the opening of the bedroom door, at which their heads flung around to see that Valerie was leaving the room without a second thought.

"That's right. They've become monsters. Now are you going to sit around on your asses like that and wait for them to come up to you? Or are you going to come with me and get the hell out of this place?"

"We... we'll come. We'll come! Wait up just a minute!! What the hell!? Who made you the leader!? Agh!! Wait just a minute though, shouldn't we like... prepare or something!? I mean..."

Melissa immediately became flustered, barely able to get her words across as the situation slowly sunk into her mind.

The world was gone.

And this terrified her.

'Even if this world was shit... even if it was horrible enough that I wanted everything to just go away... this...'

"I'm coming."

Even as Melissa faltered while looking around, the usually timid Celia seemed to stand forward with a glint of resolve in her expression.

"I... don't want to die. Not until... not until I... have broken free."

With these words, the girl stared forward at Valerie with purity, yet this pure and straightforward expression was not one of a naive girl - rather one of someone who had been through immense hardship and was prepared to face it all.

"Ok.", Valerie stated with little concern for the girl's resolve.

Then, walking forward, the girl seemed to grin bitterly as she didn't bother to wait for the other two.

"Just don't slow me down. After all..."

At that moment, Melissa sensed something.

The strange sensation that she had felt what seemed like moments before, when she had considered speaking up against this woman.

"I'll kill anything... and anyone... who gets in my way."

----

'This... isn't how it should have been.'

Melissa found herself gripping none other than a golf club, the bag to which she had found on her way out of the penthouse suite.

'Hah... I suppose that bastard must spend most of his days golfing without any worries, eh? Him and all his buddies in this damn organization... tch... I bet he used this very thing on Sunday afternoon to hit in the easiest possible shot...'

The club which the girl held was none other than a putter.

After some hesitation, she had grabbed the lightest and sharpest club with the thought that it would be able to pierce a head even without much strength or force.

'But... is... is this really true? Is this world... no... my eyes couldn't have lied to me just then... what we saw out there... that was reality.'

Standing next to the girl with a resolute expression was Celia, who had seemingly out of nowhere gained resolve.

'Just what is this girl thinking?', Melissa thought.

The girl gripped tightly the largest driver in the bag, which she had taken hold of without a second thought.

"I... am going to change myself."

Those were the words she had uttered as she gripped this heavy weapon, determined to show this world a side of her that she had never done before.

'What is she going to change?'

'Her destiny as a loser?'

'Hah... as if you could do such a thing.'

'But...'

Glancing up to the blonde girl as the three walked in the hallways, the black haired girl at the head, Melissa wondered for just a moment.

'I suppose with an expression like that... it's more likely that she'll do it than the way she was before.'

"Stairs."

Valerie stopped the group as they approached the stairway, at which she slowly crept her way into the area before curling her way down and confirming that all was safe.

"Clear for now.", she stated without blinking, moving on as she refused to wait for the two.

'Why is she so hasty? Why does she keep going ahead like this!? AGH! Shit. And I have to keep on suppressing myself because being loud might end up attracting unwanted attention... ah... that's always how it was though, wasn't it?'

As Melissa walked down those stairways, shuffling beside Celia who stepped forth without a noise, the memories of her childhood filled her mind.

Memories of putting on a smile, dressed up as she walked through banquets and parties with grace.

'If I allowed myself to make a single ill expression... if I allowed myself to make even the slightest slipup... the consequences were extreme. And that dumbass father of mine... he knew that... but even so... he made a mistake... and lost everything.'

Grimacing as she recalled a set of bitter memories, the girls stopped on a lower floor before glancing into the hallway.

'What a fool.', Melissa thought.

"We're going to clean this place out."

With a 9 Iron in one hand and a pistol in the other, Valerie spoke such words as a horrifying grin covered her face.

"Valerie, what are you-"

"It's best if we eliminate any and all threats, right? Don't you think that the threat of any undead creeping up from behind us is too risky?"

Glaring back at Melissa, Valeria smiled murderously as she twirled around the pistol on a single finger.

"Or maybe... you're too scared of death?"

"I'm... not scared.", Melissa responded quickly, her eyes thinning with seriousness. "I... I'll eliminate them as well."

Stepping forth into the hall, the three could hear the moaning sounds of the undead in the distance as they pressed forth.

"All those brainless creatures that dwell below me."