Author's note: I wrote this with Creature Feature's 'Aim For The Head' stuck in my head, and really, I don't have much of an explanation for it. Human au, in which Toris (Lithuania), Eduard (Estonia), Ivan (Russia) and various others are working at a medical research centre when radiation from an X-ray machine gone mental turns several human guinea pigs into would-be zombies, which in turn infect others with their bites.
Trigger warning for blood and character death, though I suppose the whole 'zombies!' thing should be a red flag for that kind of business anyway. At any rate, do proceed with caution.
"Raivis," Eduard murmurs in a voice almost too soft to hear. "You have to back away... Now." Toris is dead. His brothers saw him bitten by those things outside, they saw the blood falling in sheets from his throat. Eduard and Raivis had fled for the inner rooms of the Hetalia Medical Institute then, leaving their eldest brother dead on the doorstep. Whatever is coming towards them now used to be him, but isn't anymore. Raivis is too terrified to move and can only stand, trembling, transfixed.
"Raivis," Eduard hisses through gritted teeth and desperation. "You-" a bang and a river of crimson flung across the room stuns him into silence. Toris' now headless body keels over with a soft thwump. Raivis begins to cry, quietly.
"These people that are coming back from the dead, it is dangerous. Children should not be playing with corpses." A tall, blonde, blood-splattered scientist steps into the office Eduard and his brother are hidden in, gore on his shoes and on his face, a gun in one hand and a broken piece of pipeline in the other. Mr Ivan Braginsky's surprise entrance elevates Raivis to the next level of hysteria.
Ivan crouches in front of the boy, who is now on his knees and sobbing, and pats him on the head before speaking in a placid voice. "Do not be crying, little child, there was nothing to be done for him."
"He looks about the same dead as alive." A harsh voice with a biting accent remarks. Natalya Arlovskaya is in the room. As she speaks her sister follows her inside, looking shell-shocked. Raivis scoots backwards, shaking his head.
Eduard decides to step in before things can get any more worse. He pulls a reluctant Raivis to his feet and rubs his back comfortingly. "Raivis isn't a child." He says as way of introduction. "What's going on? What..." He looks down at Toris' corpse, which Natalya is prodding with the toe of her boot. He swallows down bile and asks, "what happened to all those people?"
"They died." Ivan says simply, expression unchanging, before unfolding himself and standing at his full height once more. "Surely you can see that?"
"Yes, yes, I can see that much-" Eduard counters with a touch of frustration, only to be drowned out by Raivis.
"They were doing experiments on people to make zombies, weren't they?!" He all but shrieks, before Eduard can cover the boy's mouth.
"Raivis shut up," Eduard hisses, wide-eyed and very aware of the weapons in Ivan's hands.
"This isn't some cliché sci-fi flick, kid," Natalya tells Raivis with a scowl. "Those don't happen in real life."
"Da," Ivan agrees with a nod. "And besides, in in movies like that, the characters have a chance of surviving!"
Well, there it is, folks! I hope you enjoyed it. Feedback would be appreciated, as this is my first Hetalia fanfiction!