Warning: Zombies, so there will be some gruesome stuff, but mostly later on.
"We're goin' inta town. Radio silence until we call ya or dawn."
"Roger. You two be careful, got it?"
"We got ya."
"Kaito...come back safe, Kaito..." The voice was soft, pleading, yet oddly distant.
Hattori looked over at the driver. "...he promises ta come back ta ya, Aoko-chan," he said into the detective badge.
"Good..." Was the airy reply.
Hattori stuffed the badge back into his pocket of his inner shirt, under the thick sweatshirt. "Ya okay, Kuroba?"
Kaito nodded, pulling the van to a stop just outside the town.
"Right. No more talkin' less I have ta," Hattori said.
Minutes later, both boys had left the van, having left it unlocked, but a little surprise was left for anyone who tried to hotwire it or go into the back from either the front or the doors. It was of Kaito's own design. They might need to get in quickly and be it keys or tools, seconds could mean life or death.
And it was rare one was smart enough to get in and it was easy enough to have the other deal with them. The time had been setting up those traps and checking their weapons. There were several advantages to thick, multi-layered clothing. One was in the protection it brought. A few extra seconds to fend off attackers. It also made things far easier to carry.
Such as extra guns.
And ammo.
Hattori drew the katana, blade well cared for and clean, to keep it up to standard. Kaito had a baseball bat, obviously battered and bruised, but it was better to use melee weapons for the stragglers.
Guns were for groups of them or for mercy.
The two boys glanced at each other, nodded, and then started to move, Kaito leading the way. He was, after all, the thief. He was far more skilled than Hattori in moving silently, in avoiding people. Attention was the last thing they wanted.
Especially since their scent would only be partially masked by the blood soaked in their clothes from them.
Kaito looked around the corner. There it was, there goal. A small town store, but it looked like the kind to have what they needed if it hadn't already been looted. He made a figure eight with his finger back at Hattori. Too many of them to go from the front. He pointed up.
And so they went to the rooftops. By this time, they were always clear. Unless something led them up to a roof top, they either found their way down or fell down.
Kaito moved ahead, checking back to make sure Hattori was keeping up and while it took going all the way down the street and crossing the cross light wires, they managed to eventually make it to the roof top of the store.
Now came the tricky part. They had to go down, no two ways about it. Hopefully...hopefully none were actually IN the store.
Kaito opened the rooftop down and they were in. They moved silently, not daring to making a sound as they entered the store. Looted, but not heavily. They could still see cans which meant there were supplies to be found.
They scanned the area and Kaito thought that perhaps his luck really was returning. It looked like none were in the store. They quickly got to work after putting a broom through the front doors to keep them closed, stuffing nonperishables into their bags. Hattori jumped the counter of the small pharmacy, hopeful for any good medicines. Medicine was a harder thing to find. With how everything started, people had been trying to get whatever medicine was possible in hopes to survive, to not become like them.
And there. A movement in the corner of his eyes. His head whipped around and a zombie was moving in from behind Hattori. Kaito opened his mouth, but then remembered.
He mentally cursed, pulling out a handgun and fired, blowing their head off.
Hattori whipped around at the shot. "What the hel-oh. Damn, I didn't even see it. Was it moving evenly?" At Kaito's nod, he sighed. "Damn Hunters..."
And then the sound came. The moaning as they started to bang on the windows of the store.
"Shit. Fill the rest of the bags and we go!" Hattori said, hopping back over the counter and handing his empty bags to Kaito. Again, another assigned role.
Hattori was more experienced at fighting. He was more experienced finding and getting things fast. Kaito quickly ran around the store, getting necessities as quickly as possible. He just had the last bag half full when a window shattered.
"Another shot when yer done, Kuroba!" Hattori shouted and started hacking the zombies that started to get through the small hole. It was still manageable enough for the moment, but not for long.
More windows started to shatter as Kaito zipped up the last bag and fire the gun at a zombie that was getting too close to Hattori.
"Gotcha! The roof!" Hattori shouted as they both ran to the back to the store, where the stairs led back up, but they couldn't stop, not yet. More were following and the door wouldn't last long with a lock. And if there was one Hunter, there was going to be more and even the roofs wouldn't be safe long.
All they could do was run.
That was all they could ever do.
It was the idle thought in Kaito's mind as they jumped across roof tops that if there's anything he has learned in his 19 years of living, it was this:
When something promises immortality, remember that it is always entirely too good of an offer to be true.