The Decomposition of Love
"Kill it!"
"No!"
"Antonio, come on, it's-"
"He. Bella, I can't..."
Bella's eyes were stern as she stared evenly at Antonio.
"It's not him anymore." Her eyes softened. "Antonio, he's not the same person anymore. He's not a person anymore. It's dangerous now."
"Don't call him an 'it'!" Antonio cried, his distress getting worse.
"You fool." Lars growled, roughly pulling the Spanish man back from the grasp of the 'creature'. "It's not even human anymore."
"No! No, he has to still be in there, somewhere..."
A guttural growl was heard as Bella shoved the advancing 'monster' back with the broom she had been wielding. Antonio was the only one with a loaded gun, the one he'd quickly grabbed when he'd heard Bella scream – only to refuse using it as soon as he'd seen what the threat was. Luckily they didn't seem to have an epidemic on them, like in movies. Just the one.
Just the one person that Antonio could never harm.
Antonio searched the cold, bloodless face for any sort of sign that the boy he loved was in there; a spark in the deadened golden-olive eyes, a pause in the attempted advance, any flicker of recognition... but no, nothing. Just another low, primal noise and a lethargic swipe of the hand. Antonio bit down on his knuckles to try and stop his sobs from escaping.
Sometimes, in the films, they'd say the virus took all semblances of a person; that their dead flesh would rot and their features become distorted, ugly, barely recognisable. But that wasn't true. Despite the lankness of the hair, it was still that same dark auburn colour and it still fell around his face in almost the same way. His face had no colour, no flush of life, and he guessed he's never see that beautiful tomato blush again, and although maybe a bit thin, it was still the same as it had been in life – no, he wasn't dead...
The worst thing was his eyes.
They had the same colour to them; olive green, flecks of gold and brown and amber. But they were dark, dull, and didn't hold the same brightness of emotion. There was no concealed happiness, no shy gaze, no annoyance and no love – just deep pools of anger and hunger.
Yet, even as Lovino snarled at him, once again attempting to get past Bella's broom, Antonio still saw the beautiful, wonderful boy who growled annoyances at him and stole kisses in privacy.
"For fucks sake you fucking dumbass, if you don't shoot him already I'll do it!" Lars reached to snatch the gun from Antonio's hands, but the tanned man reacted fast, pulling away and raising the weapon to point it at the other.
"Don't you dare!" he shouted. Rage burned for a moment in his eyes, setting them alight with green flames, before Bella cried at him.
"Antonio!"
Lars glared back at him and he was almost certain at that moment that if it wasn't for Bella, the two would have killed each other by now.
"Antonio, please! If you can't, then please let Lars. We're in danger as long as he's here!"
"It needs to be disposed of."
Antonio tensed as Lars, very pointedly, masked over his sister's referring to Lovino as he, as a person, hitting the same nerve again. Now, as much as he might have many problems with shooting his boyfriend of 5 years, who was currently riddled with some disease and trying desperately to either eat them or at least rip them to shreds, he had no such problem with offing Lars on the spot right now.
The rational part of his mind, which had been ignored for a while, told him that it was just the heat of the moment feeling, with the mixed emotions he had about his situation and the way Lars was managing it very unsympathetically. It also told him that for the sake of Bella, himself, and possibly Lars, shooting Lovino would be sensible and reasonable, but as soon as that was broadcasted it was shut off again.
He'd promised he'd never hurt his Lovi. And he'd stick to that.
"Lovino?"
Antonio walked closer to the shell of his lover, calmly watching as his struggling against Bella's broom became more frantic and he snarled loudly again.
"You fucking idiot..." he heard from behind him, but he paid no attention.
"Mi querido..." The Spaniard reached out a hand towards his Italian's face, barely flinching when he snapped for his fingers.
"Antonio, please!" Bella cried desperately. Lovino tried to grab Antonio, but couldn't lift his arms properly because of the way Bella was restraining him.
"I know you're in there, somewhere..." Antonio murmured gently, cradling the cold, clammy cheek that would have once warmed with a dark blush. Lovino pushed his face into the hand, though not in affection as he might once have – now he was trying to turn his head to try and take a chunk out of Antonio's arm, but the Spaniard was strong enough to prevent that. "But maybe you can't show me that. Or maybe they're right. Maybe you are gone."
Lovino's snarling and fighting had calmed down slightly with annoyance; he wasn't getting anywhere, and he's been struggling to get close for quite a while now. Besides, now Antonio was coming to him. He might be infected with a disease that reduced him to a death-like, primal creature, but that did not mean that all intelligence had left his head. So instead he sat and growled lowly, glaring steadily at the tanned man who was getting so close to him.
"But if you are gone, I'm going with you."
"Antonio!" Bella gasped, but he paid her no attention. Without breaking his gaze with Lovino, Antonio held the gun back for Lars to take.
"Shoot me with him."
"Fucker, I'm not going to do you any mercies. Bella doesn't want you dead, so I won't kill you." The other man barked at him. Antonio replied, quietly, calmly – in a tone completely unlike him.
"You will if you have no other choice."
With that, Antonio grasped the handle of the broom and shoved Bella backward with it. He closed the gap between him and Lovino and quickly placed a gentle kiss to his forehead. Then he buried his face in the crook of the Italian's neck.
He heard Bella's screams, felt Lovino's arms clamp around him, trapping him, and felt the sharp pain of his love's teeth sinking deep into his shoulder. He grunted, but simply wrapped his arms around Lovino's midsection and pressed himself closer. Still he heard Bella's crying and Lovino's snarling, and as his senses started fading from him, he heard the bang that was quickly followed by nothing.
~~::.::~~
A/N: Sorry, Doc Manager was being screwy and I couldn't put anything at the beginning... So it's all here instead~
This is going to be a short series of about 3/4 related oneshots on the subject of zombies. The main thing that stays the same is that Lovino is always the zombie; the original inspiration was zombie!Italies. So this is the first, there's a second one, a companion fic to this, and then two others that are like 'alternate endings'. Companion will be out tomorrow, others will be out soon. Hope you enjoyed it, and hope to see you next chapter!
Also - please review guys! Reviews make my day and I'd quite like feedback on these, since it's a new idea and something a bit different for me. As always, reviewers will be thanked in the next chapter. Thanks guys :)
Well, I'd better go.
Ciao~~
