This wasn't happening. It simply couldn't be real. Getting trapped on the buses at night and having those bird creatures come after them was one thing, but having the townspeople attack? Seeing that he had been wrong about them having souls and being real people? It was too much. Ritsuka could hardly hurt the animals at the Institute, so what was he supposed to do against people? Even in their rotting forms, they were still... They still looked human.

It had been so hard to run. Even though he'd been the one to tell Miku she had to move, running past all of the dead people had been one of the hardest things he'd done here. The smell of it turned his stomach and the sight terrified him. He needed to run, to hide, to do something and all he could do was to call out for Soubi in his head. Thankfully, Sousuke was here, but how much could he do when he was fighting against so many?

Stumbling through the hotel door, Ritsuka tripped hit the floor, cursing under his breath as he skinned his knee. He wanted to close the door, but it was broken and the only thing he could think to do was to throw his weight against the wood and shove a nearby chair under the handle. It wouldn't hold, but it was something.

Movement out of the corner of his eye startled him and Ritsuka turned in time to see Sheena throw a card at the things coming down the stairs. A card that Ritsuka remembered having seen explode before. "Wait, don--!!"

He couldn't get his words out fast enough and the card exploded, fire engulfing the bodies. The smell of burnt flesh hit him immediately and Ritsuka grabbed his stomach and covered his mouth in a vain attempt to keep from vomiting. The smell... it was twice as bad as when he entered the classroom and saw him sitting there, tied to a chair, charred and black and--

Ritsuka fell to his knees, doubled over, choking back to keep at least some shred of dignity and failing miserably.