Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece

Rating: T

Summary: They had to go inside the store. There was no choice. They had to.

Warnings: Language, boyxboy, and potentially (?) disturbing scenes

"D-D-Do we really have t-to go in there?"

Sanji gave a cursory glance to his partner. Usopp's teeth were chattering and his body was shaking. Nothing really new there. It was the flush to his cheeks that concerned him. He reached out a hand, placing it on the younger male's shoulder in a gesture of consolation, even though he was looking for something else.

Feverish.

Great.

"Of course we have to fucking go in. We need water, bandages and medicine." And a miracle.

"I-I'm fine really." The tanner male stuttered, "No need to worry about the Great Usopp!"

Oh, now he really knew he was bad off. Usopp used to bitch and moan about paper cuts until Sanji would kiss the hurt away. Now he had a three-inch deep gash in his arm, poorly wrapped might he add, going cleanly from elbow to shoulder and he was acting like it was nothing?

"Shut up," Sanji said, the gun in his hand cocking as he turned to face the small but dark convenience store, sun burning orange behind them and casting their faces in shadow, "And get ready."

The moment they stepped inside, Sanji could tell it had obviously already been ransacked once – probably multiple times – before. Nothing out of the ordinary there, but he still cursed silently about it. He lifted his flashlight high, running the beam across the room in a slow arc like a camera. Electricity was long dead so there was no use trying to find the power switch.

"Looks clear." Sanji reported, though eyeing the tall shelves with apprehension. He knew better than to believe that because this place was so small, nothing would be inside. "I'll go look for water. You look for the bandages and shit."

"R-Right." Usopp said, keeping his voice low the two of them walking forward hesitantly, ears open for even the slightest noise. They split up in the center of the room, Sanji headed for the back of the room where the refreshments were and Usopp to the aisles. They walked slowly and no matter how much he tried to mask it, his steps still made a soft tap with each step. He never wished he could walk on air more than he did right then – and he used to get chased down by drag queens in college.

He came to the end of an aisle, sweeping his flashlight one way and then the other slowly. Nothing. He paused even still, but all he could hear was Usopp's own wanderings as he went through the aisles slowly, his own flashlight casting beams of light in the direction he must be walking. Taking this as a good sign, Sanji finally crossed the last two feet to the fridges and pulled open doors, holding his breath from the rancid smell as he thrust his light inside.

Empty. They were all empty.

"Son of a bitch." Sanji hissed under his breath, eyes roving around desperately for something, anything.

It was just as he spotted something orange at the very back of the fridge that there came a clatter, like something falling over. The blond froze, then called hesitantly, "Usopp…?"

"T-T-That wasn't me…"

Oh fuck.

Sanji spun around, pressing himself up against the shelves behind him, seeing Usopp's light dancing all through the air like the strobes at a rave, before he heard a warning cry, "The counter!" Just as the words left his partner's mouth, a dark shape sailed through the air, towards him. There was a sharp report of Usopp's gun going off, felling the foe. There wasn't even a pause between it all before he was yelling again, "There's more!"

Shit and double shit! Sanji almost tore away to join his partner in the fight, when his mind's eye suddenly again pictured that orange he had seen in the back of the fridge. Normally he would forgo most things, even his own cigarettes, during a battle but experience had taught him never pass up nourishment. They would die sooner of thirst then Infection and that was no way to go.

Sanji spun around, pointing his flashlight back into the fridge and scouring it wildly, the sounds of gunfire and Usopp panicked yells clawing at his soul. But damn it… just a minute… aha, there!

Sanji thrust his arm all the way to the back of the fourth shelf, chipped, dirty fingernails clawing for purchase, ignoring what was probably decades worth of grime clinging to his skin. His heart jumped when he finally grabbed it, feeling the sweet, wonderful edge of a cap to a bottle. And then he heard a horrible shriek and turned his head around.

Perched on the top of an aisle like a jaguar getting ready to spring was what used to be a young man, probably in his late teens or early 20s. Used to be, before Infection set in. Now his skin was grayish and peeling, revealing open wounds and black blood underneath. If he had to gather from the way he could actually see half of the kid's lower jaw as the flesh had disintegrated all the way to bone in that area, he was in the level three stage of the sickness – the most painful and madness inducing.

They stood like that for a total of four seconds, Sanji, half of his body inside the fridge and the boy, swaying mesmerizingly on the top of the shelves. And then Sanji's hand clenched around the bottle and the boy pounced. The cook yanked his arm back and twisted his body out the way, hearing a crash as the Infected collided with the metal racks and actually managed to break a few of them. "SHITHEAD!" Sanji snapped, raising his gun just as the boy let out an inhuman snarl and came towards him again. But by then Sanji was already shooting. It took five shots to finally get the Infected on the ground, leaving his breath reedy and his ears ringing so deafeningly the sound of Usopp frantically calling his name was almost unheard.

"SANJI, ANSWER ME PLEASE!"

The cook started, shaking away the relief that filled him every time he came out of a fight alive, shoving the bottle into his left pocket. He shouted back, "I'M FINE. LET'S GET OUT OF HERE!" There was no other shooting going on, so he knew Usopp had taken care of the rest.

He took off for the only exit, the long-nosed male meeting him half way as they sprinted for the doors. Sanji gave him a once over, noting no new wounds just some random blood splatters and wide, terror-stricken eyes that only grew more so as he breathlessly warned, "The door!"

The blond looked forward seeing a sudden mob of Infected clamoring at the doors, knowing they must have been drawn from their nests from the commotion. "Shit!" Sanji snapped as he slid to a stop, grabbing the still-running Usopp by his overalls and, with no other options, pulled him inside a storage closet, before hastily shutting the door and putting them completely in darkness. He shoved himself up against the door as he flipped the lock, light filling the area after a moment as Usopp found his flashlight.

And then screamed as something jumped towards them. The flashlight fell, somehow didn't break, and light rolled around the room but hid nothing in such a tiny space. Sanji felt his heart jump – stupid, stupid! Of course there was one in here! – and he was pretty sure he saw his life flash before his eyes and-

BANG!

Blood and other things Sanji didn't like thinking about splattered the walls around them and Usopp shakily backed up against the furthest wall, before silently collapsing to his knees. After a moment, when the Infected didn't move, he lowered his gun too. Sanji's eyes rolled over the creature hesitantly as well, noting the bullet that went right through the head.

Shit.

Even sick, Usopp was still a better shot then him.

A sudden scratching behind him had him jumping away from the door and Usopp squeaking out a gasp. Sanji eyed the door warily, trying to be as quiet as possible as he fetched the flashlight and backed away until he was settled down beside Usopp. The man was shaking again but Sanji wasn't sure if it was from the aftereffects of adrenaline, fear or sickness; probably a combination of all three. What he was sure of was the dark male looked worse than he had before they went in.

"Did you manage to get any medicine?" Sanji asked, trying to keep his voice low as he set the flashlight down so it's beam of light shot up towards the ceiling, filling their area with enough to see by.

Dull brown eyes shot him a furtive glance, before giving a silent shake of his head.

"None at all!?" Sanji hissed angrily.

"I couldn't find any!" Usopp frantically explained.

"Didn't find any or didn't have time?"

"I don't know! Both I guess? Will you just be quiet dumbass?!"

"You're speaking louder than I am, shitty longnose!"

Usopp opened his mouth to retort when a loud sound, like a body slamming into the door, made his voice fade away into nothing but a frightened squawk, and he pressed his face against Sanji's shoulder, holding the other tightly. The blond wrapped a protective arm around the other, his other hand on his gun. There were some more loud slams and a few inhuman shrieks, each one causing Usopp to whimper quietly and Sanji's muscles to tense tighter and tighter. If they got in here now, it was all over…

Just when he thought the door couldn't take anymore though, the ruckus finally died down, and there was some scuttling outside that grew fainter and fainter and the two could finally breathe again. Usopp's head shifted to peer up at him, tear tracks down his face and Sanji silently cursed as guilt settled in his stomach. "Sorry, I'm just…" He mumbled softly.

The younger lifted his head, sniffling and wiping at his tears, "I know… F-Forget it. Did you get any water?"

He thought of the empty fridges and felt frustration well up in him again as he sighed out slowly, reaching into his pocket. "Not water but…" He lifted out the orange container in which Usopp squinted at, trying to read the faded label.

"Orange juice…? You know that's probably long expired, right Sanji?"

"Don't think we can afford being picky these days." He returned, unscrewing the cap before giving the drink an experimental sniff and then sip. It was bitter with a sour aftertaste and so, so hot and the orange flavor that was meant to be there tasted more like its peels instead.

It was the best damn thing Sanji had had in days.

They shared the small bottle, polishing it off in no time between them, and then it was time to get down to the real business. "This is the third store." Sanji said, almost conversationally.

Trying to get even one more measly drop out of the orange juice, Usopp finally sighed and lowered it, cradling it between his hands. "I know…"

"We had a deal."

The other pretended not to hear him, turning his head away and staring at the mop in the corner of the room.

The blond sighed. "You know we have to."

Fingers drummed along the plastic container.

"Usopp!"

"I know okay! Keep your voice down!" The black male whispered heatedly, "But… But do we have to do it here? Now?"

"You got a better time and place?" When no retort was forthcoming, Sanji nodded, reaching into his other pocket this time. "Come on then. We'll be in here until morning anyways."

"Knew we shouldn't have gone in the evening." Usopp complained, but was quietly pulling off the left buckle of his overalls. Normally he'd be wearing a shirt, but ever since he got that ugly wound it was impossible for him to lift his arm above his shoulder so he'd settled with wearing the cute farmer's getup.

Sanji set two things down on the ground – a knife and a lighter – before reaching for the flashlight, shoving it behind them so that the light was more directly on them, before reaching forward to take Usopp's arm. He started undoing the knot on the wrappings before starting to pull away the three-day old bandages made from a mangled skirt they had found. At the first circlet, Sanji already knew this was going to be hell when he had to carefully peel away the soiled fabric from the wound, the sound like tape being pulled off of a package and utterly sickening to his ears. The scabs where skin had tried to mend itself were torn away, causing blood to rivulet down but Sanji doggedly continued on until the last bit came away.

In full view it was horrible. The cut was as deep and raw to see as the day it had been inflected and there were little bubbles of pus clinging to the edges in clear signs of infection. It probably needed stitches and antibiotics but shit, Sanji wasn't a doctor he was a cook and all he knew was he never imagined he'd be using one of his knifes for this.

It wasn't a special knife really, just a measly little vegetable knife with a blade only a few inches long and a chipped handle; it was old and nothing like the precious multi-hundred dollar set he used to own. But he carried it everywhere with him ever since he was given it twelve years ago on the first day of his chef apprenticeship with Zeff. Usopp would call it his good-luck knife and even constructed a little sheath for the blade part because he worried Sanji would sit down on it one day and have it pierce his leg or worse. He always worried too much…

He pulled off the cover, picking up his lighter that he kept with him even if he hadn't had a smoke in months, and lifted the knife above the output. There was a click and a spark and then flames licked at the razor edge of the silver blade, the blond slowly guiding it from tip to base.

"This is gonna hurt like hell, huh?" Usopp mumbled, trying to get comfortable against the wall.

"Sure ain't gonna shit'en tickle." He retorted, pocketing his lighter. "You ready?"

The other smiled weakly, before he reached up, pulling off his bandanna, his dark hair settling along his head before he bundled it up in a tight ball. "Ready." The action made Sanji want to kick a bunch of Infected until their heads were lobbed off.

He only nodded, sliding his hand up under Usopp's upper arm, knife level with one of the pockets of infection, gritting his teeth as he slowly started to cut, fingers pushing at the edge of it at same time to push the fluid out until it came out bloody and clean. The process was excruciating for both of them. There were a few times he cut a little deeper than intended from Usopp reflexively trying to jerk away and at one point, as he was slicing into one of the biggest areas, the gunner almost passed out. But the worst of it was Usopp, biting down on his own bandanna to muffle his screaming while tears filled his eyes, that almost had Sanji's resolve break and choose instead to just hold the other and whisper idiotic things like how it would just get better if they prayed and he'd never do this again.

But, sure enough, he knew he would be doing this again in a few more days. If Usopp made it that long.

By the time he was finished, blood was all over the floor and they were both exhausted. Usopp fell against the wall in weary relief, lids falling half-mast over his eyes while Sanji wrapped up the horrid injury, thinking that if it ever did heal it was going to scar terribly. Once done, they moved to another part of the room, one that wasn't covered in the dead Infected's or the marksman's blood, and the blond pulled off his tattered coat, throwing it over his partner's shoulders. He wasn't shivering quite like he had been but Sanji had a sneaking suspicion this was due more from weakness then lack of being cold. He stretched out his legs, tugging the other gently until he was laid out on the floor, head in his lap, soothingly running his hand over tangled curls.

"Sanji…?" Usopp mumbled drowsily from somewhere in the general vicinity of his left thigh.

"Mmm?" His ring finger got caught in a knot and Usopp winced a little when the hairs pulled. "Ah, sorry."

"Forget about it. Anyways, did I ever tell you about time I took down fifty Infected all by myself… with just ten bullets?"

Sanji chuckled softly. "Funny, I don't seem to recall this phenomenon happening."

"Oh you were…" The younger shifted some, legs bending into a more comfortable position, "Sleeping! Yeah, sleeping. In fact, you were having such nice dreams that I wasn't about to let anyone interrupt them."

"Oh? And what was I dreaming about?"

"Why, me of course." Usopp said with a big grin.

Sanji laughed, the noise near-soundless but the amusement clear in his voice as he responded, "Of course. Can't go one day without seeing this long nose." He flicked the end of said body part for emphasis.

The younger male pouted. "But you love my nose, right?"

Sanji made a show of thinking about this. "Well now…"

"Sanji!" Not wanting to give up the warmth gathered under the blond's coat, Usopp used his nose to poke him somewhere just under the ribs.

"What would I ever do without it?"

"And," Usopp turned his head some, brown eyes looking up at him imploringly. "You love me right?"

This time he didn't pause. "Couldn't go a day without you." He'd said these exact same words almost a thousand times, but these days, they never rang truer.

Usopp smiled, seemingly satisfied as he snuggled up into his stomach, Sanji already knowing what he'd say before he said it. "Good, because you'll have to put me up with me for some time yet."

He could only hope. "You know what, I think I'm okay with that." He brushed his fingers along Usopp's cheek, trying to control the sudden wave of emotion within him, that had him just wanting to curl up around his feverish partner and never let go. "Get some sleep, Uso-chan."

Sanji awoke with a start to the noise of a distant boom, the sound wave enough to make the building tremble. The hell…?

He turned on the flashlight. "Usopp… Usopp, wake up!" Sanji hissed urgently, shaking the other male's shoulder, unease settling within him at how long it took to rouse his normally jumpy partner.

"Huh? What?" The male said as he finally came awake but from the heat under his fingers and the unfocused look, Sanji had to bite back a curse as he realized his temperature must have spiked sometime during the night. Usopp struggled to get up, his limbs trembling from the effort. "What's happening?"

"I don't know, but something's going down outside." Sanji said, hands placed under Usopp's shoulder blades for support as he guided the other up. "We've got to get ready."

The black-haired male nodded, reaching for his gun. Hand shook so much he dropped it. Sanji pretended not to see as he lifted his own gun towards the door. He heard some of the Infected were still intelligent; that they could gather a small caravan together to bring down buildings if they had too, all to reach prey.

"Sanji… I-"

Like last night, he could predict exactly what the other was about to say. "Be quiet Usopp."

"But San-"

"Just be quiet!" You're not going to die, damn it! I won't let you die!

Nothing more could be said when there was a sudden slam on the door like there had been last night. The room's occupants' tensed up, realizing that if they got attacked in here, cornered in this enclosed, small space it might really be the end of them this tim-

"Oi, Zoro, what's in there?"

The gun in Usopp's hand fell on the ground again, weeping with sudden relief. Sanji could almost do the same as he heard a gruff voice of this 'Zoro' guy answering the boyish call of whoever else was out there. "Huh? Didn't Nami say to go here?"

"How could you confuse the back of the room for that cluttered mess over there?!" Oh, and a sweet maiden was with them!

Wait a moment, cluttered? Had they been barricaded in?

"S-Sanji…" Usopp sobbed, holding onto him and it was enough for him to remember his voice.

He cleared his dry throat as he yelled, "O-Oi! We're in here!"

There was a stretch of silence and then the first voice spoke up again, "Zoro, I think the door is talking to you."

"Idiot! Obviously there's someone inside." The other male snapped.

"Oh… Well let's get them out and bring them with us."

"Alright. Stand back."

"Hold on a second!" The heavenly Nami spoke again, her voice suddenly much closer as she halted whatever Zoro was about to do. Her mistrustfulness made her even more wonderful. "Luffy, we can't have you just bringing along every single person we come across! Seven is already a lot to handle!"

Seven? Sanji couldn't believe it. He'd never even heard of a group that big before.

The fiery tempered female spoke to them now. "How many of you are in there?"

"Two of us." Sanji reported, swallowing nervously. Their lives depended on him answering these questions right.

"Any Infected in there?"

"One."

"Dead?"

"Yes."

"Food?"

"MEAT?" That youthful voice cut in.

"Luffy, not now! And keep watch why don't you?!" The wonderful Nami barked before addressing them again. "Food?"

"N-None…" Sanji was feeling a little confused. What was going on?

"Any water?"

"No."

"When's the last time you guys had anything to eat or drink?"

He knew those answers all too well. "We had some orange juice yesterday and we ate some canned soup about four days ago."

"Got any weapons?"

"Yes."

"What kind?"

"Two guns." There was an exasperated sigh to that response.

"Obviously. What kind of guns?"

"Uuhhh…" Sanji stared down at his firearm, completely at a loss. There were kinds?

Luckily, Usopp straightened and took over, "One's a semi-automatic pistol, .45 Skypeia model. The other's a .32 eight-shot Alabasta revolver." He murmured an aside softly to him, "That one's yours." He spoke up again, "We have a North Blue vegetable kitchen knife too."

"And how much ammo do you guys have?"

That Sanji also didn't know but Usopp didn't break to even calculate it. "Forty-four shots for the pistol, sixty-three for the revolver." There was break in the interrogation outside, some muffled words being shared. Sanji and Usopp shared a smile, the latter leaning up against him once more.

And then suddenly Zoro spoke up. "You're injured." It wasn't even a question.

The body against his tensed up, Usopp glancing at him in alarm and it was at the moment they understood. Their faceless rescuers were trying to gauge how worth saving them they were. "I-It's nothing really just a scrat-"

"Tch, don't start lying now. Your voice is strained. How bad?"

When his partner didn't seem willing to answer, Sanji spoke up, "It's about five days old. It's a huge gash, probably needs stitches and antibiotics. He's running a fever too."

"Any Infection in it?" Nami sounded extremely cautious now – as anyone would.

"Not… not that we know of." Sanji said, almost desperately now. The questioning died again, so abruptly Sanji almost feared they had just left them there without a word.

"What can you guys do?" It was Luffy who spoke up this time and Sanji could almost picture a wide grin on that unknown face.

"Well… I was a chef."

"Ooooh so you can cook meat?!"

Could he cook meat? Was that a joke? "Well I-" Sanji started, only to pause when a hand fell over his.

Usopp gave him a confident grin and a wink, before saying in a loud, boisterous voice, "Can he cook meat? Ha! Any kind. Tenderloin, lamb chops, venison, turkey breast, chicken drumsticks, ham – you name it, he can make it! But that's not what makes him a great chef. It's not the taste either – which I promise is so delectable you'll never find any dish that even compares! But no, that's not what makes him a great chef." Usopp's fingers squeezed his and Sanji could almost imagine the other was suddenly reciting poetry to him with the way he was speaking so adoringly. "Sanji knows how to use every bit of any ingredient he's given. The peels of any fruit or vegetable, every bit of any animal meat from nose to toe, even fish bones! Yes, I said fish bones – and that may sound impossible but trust me I've had it and it's delicious. He's the best chef you'll ever meet – probably the world's greatest."

"Uso-chan…" Sanji mumbled and it felt stupid being so stunned by, well, what was generally the truth. But maybe it was just because Usopp was saying it.

"R-Really?" Luffy sounded like he was drooling. "Sanji, you can really do all that?"

With an insistent nudge, Sanji answered, trying to copy his partner's confidence, "Of course I can. As long as I have ingredients, I can make anything." Usopp gave him a thumbs up but Sanji wasn't about to let him just get away with that. If they were even thinking about taking one of them, they were taking both. "But Usopp here can shoot. He used to be a sniper before everything went to hell." The gunner blinked in surprise. "He's never used more than one shot on any of these Infected shitheads and he can pick them off almost a half-mile away. Hell, even sick like he is, he still hasn't missed a shot and almost all those ones out there are his. If you need anyone, it's him." He pressed his lips against a sweaty forehead, the marksman smiling shakily at the tender kiss.

They heard a strange clapping outside but it sounded less like hands and more like a dancing of feet. "Really? You guys are incredible! But…" The noise died down and at that word, that single word that could hold so much devastation in it, abruptly Sanji felt his heart falling into his stomach to start burning away. "Would you leave the other behind if we could only take one of you?"

"W-What?" Usopp sounded as dumbfounded as Sanji felt. That question could mean so many things. Was that the kind of group these people were? Abandon their comrades at the soonest sign of necessity? They looked at each other and Sanji wondered if they could lie about this. He knew, the moment the king of liars spoke, that it was impossible. "I couldn't ever abandon Sanji."

"I could… if I was the one being left behind." Sanji countered.

Usopp's eyes widened, glittering wetly in the flashlight's beam. "S-Sanji!"

"Shishishishishi, I like you guys!" What a strange laugh. "Zoro get them out of there! They're coming along to be our nakama!"

"Aye, Captain."

"Luffy – wait a second. We haven't discussed all of this yet. We still…" Nami's voice faded away, the two of them probably walking away and anything else was quickly masked by the loud sounds of heavy items being moved.

For the first time in a long time, Sanji felt something akin to hope as he wrapped an arm around Usopp as they waited to see the sunlight.

I wrote this after watching Daybreakers – which is really funny considering that movie is kind of about vampires and this story is more like a zombie apocalypse so don't ask me what got the inspiration rolling.

I left a lot of things blank in this fanfic – like where did Usopp get the wound? I was going to write this in, but I couldn't come up with anything satisfactory and decided to just omit it. The purpose is he has it, it's making him sick and Sanji desperately wants to save him. I also omitted most of the stuff about the Infection – like what the virus really is, what they looked like, how it started etc. etc. I could have added all that but I felt it would uselessly complicate the plot too much for just a one-shot. Maybe if I make a sequel I might expand on the idea, but overall I really just wanted to have fun with Sanuso.

And hurt Usopp some because I'm a sadistic bitch like that xD

ANYWAYS, hope you guys enjoyed!