The Feud

                                    

                                          
The streets were barren and abandoned. Ludwig had no idea how it'd suddenly gotten this quiet, but he knew he needed to take shelter and find himself more ammunition. Carting a petrified Italian behind him, he ducked into the nearest shop he could find; it was empty, and they were alone. "Thank god," he muttered to himself quietly, then kicked open the door to a little back room. Relaxing his shoulders with relief (momentarily), he spied a small, hand-cranked television in a corner. He kneeled down beside it and began to turn the crank furiously. The news immediately started up, and Ludwig was relieved to hear the annoyingly eccentric voice of a local German newscaster.
"They say it started with an underground project in creating a universal bio-weapon," the newscaster said to the camera, finally serious for once. "They abducted an albino man right from the street as he was going about his day, and tested their creation on him. With no luck, they abandoned their laboratory and the albino stranger, whose name is unknown."
"Gilbert..." Ludwig whimpered aloud. "His name is Gilbert..."
"Apparently they did have luck, though, as this albino...we'll call him Patient Zero...somehow escaped from his lab and disrupted a meeting at the town hall building. The global death toll is currently unknown, but countries such as Estonia, Latvia, England, France, Denmark, Greece, and Turkey are beginning to rapidly break down."
Ludwig rapidly scribbled the names down on a nearby pad of paper. 
"We'll keep eyes on other countries being affected, but for now all citizens are being advised to take cover in a sheltered zone immediately. Lock your doors, take cover...and if you haven't said goodbye to your loved ones, I suggest—"
Ludwig threw the tv over to the side, not wanting to hear the end of the sentence; he immediately regretted his decision to fling the tv, though, as it crashed into a pile of boxes and the continues bangs and crashes echoed out the door, which was still swung open.
"G-G-Germany..." Feliciano whispered, pointing off into the foggy distance. Through the thick fog, Ludwig could see a figure advancing towards them. He pushed the small Italian behind him and drew his gun quickly, backing away from the door.  As The figure got closer, Ludwig realized...it wasn't limping or staggering the way that the zombies did. It was walking normally, however slowly. He kept his gun raised, but stood in his place. Through the fog, the figure emerged;
"Privet, small quaking nations. You aren't bitten, come with me," Ivan said cheerfully, as if the entire experience hadn't affected him in the least bit. 
"Russia?! How are you acting so...so...Russia??!!" Ludwig said, putting his gun away and frowning.
"It's simple...my sisters are safe. So I am okay. Come with me," he chirped again, motioning for the two nations to follow...and they did. 
As they walked through the fog, Ludwig could see a larger group of figures next to what looked like the outline of a pickup truck. Ivan lead them to the truck, and Ludwig immediately recognized Ivan's sisters, Elizabeta, Kiku, Yao, Tino, Berwald, Alfred, and that one blond guy that looked like Alfred but wasn't. Ludwig could never remember his damn name. "These are survivors. There are others, but we cannot locate them currently."
Ludwig immediately snapped into survival mode upon seeing them. "Do we have a list of the deceased?" 
"Yes." Elizabeta stood, brushing herself off. "All of Ivan's Baltics, all of the Nordic countries except for these two lovebirds, Arthur, Francis, Antonio, the Aussie, Lovino, and of course...my Roderich."
Ludwig suddenly tensed, remembering his lie to Feliciano. He slowly looked over at the small Italian, who was crumbling in his spot. Ludwig didn't know what to do other than hug Feliciano tighter.
"All the others are either here or haven't been located. We're planning to drive to the coast to take a boat over to Canada, because it hasn't even been remotely affected yet. They have top research already started, and camps available for the living."
"No, that's not what we're going to do." Kiku piped up quietly. "We're going to stay put and form our own survival camp."
"We're going to Canada, dude." Alfred grunted.
"No, the sensible option is to utilize the resources here," Berwald said. "Right, Tino?"
Tino shrunk down. Quietly, he muttered, "I believe that we should try and make it to Canada..."
Elizabeta grunted. "We've been arguing like this for a bit. Ludwig, what do you think?"
The whole group turned to Ludwig. Ludwig closed his eyes, and contemplated the options.
"Canada is the best bet," Elizabeta grunted. "They have top medical researchers, they have camps for us, of anyone has a shot of beating this crap then it's them. And they need our help!" She exclaimed. 
"I also agree we should kick zombie ass all the way to the coast and try and make it to Canada. It'll be like a video game!" Alfred agreed.
"I think so too," Natalia said coldly. "Not the dumb video game part, but the part about leaving Europe. It's a hellscape. We're boxed in everywhere here."
"I agree," Tino said quietly. "Canada is the safest option."
"Agreed," Yao said quietly, still munching on a dumpling that he'd somehow salvaged. "But I also think it's safe to stay here and let the Canadians come to us."
"I agree with Yao on the bit about staying here," Kiku said simply.
"I don't think we've ever had a disagreement before," Berwald grunted, looking down at Tino. "I guess there's a first time for everything." His words made Tino crumble, but he wasn't going to back down on his opinion against his husband's.
"Ivan, sweetheart. You're panicked, you aren't thinking straight." Katyusha rubbed Ivan's shoulders. "Staying here is the safest option! If We stay here instead of venturing into the unknown, nobody will get hurt. We'll know our territory best if we stay put."
"I agree with Natalia. I apologize, sister." Ivan said solemnly, his small grin disappearing.
"Well," Germany said, clearing his throat. "Italy and I want to stay here. We know our surroundings here, it's safest."
"It appears we're split down the middle," Elizabeta said, standing on the hood of the pickup truck. "Five of us want to set out for Canada. Five of us want to stay here. Yao will support either decision."
"Uh, dudes?" Alfred raised his hand. "Maybe we should hear from Canada himself about this?" He stepped aside, revealing that twin-like brother of his that everyone forgot was there (although nobody cared to admit that).
"Uhh, of course, yes. Um...Cana...uh...da," Elizabeta stuttered, totally blanking on his name. She sighed softly, admitting her defeat in trying to remember.
"It's Matthew," Alfred subtly-but-not-subtly whispered to her from on the ground.
"Right, Matthew, yes I completely knew that. Of course." She smoothed down her hair and made eye contact with the shy nation. "Matthew...what do we do?"