Iceland was pretty lucky that he is already wearing a pair of summer shorts, a plain t-shirt and ragged trainers that are comfortable to wear, because the weather was so warm. He wasn't even planning on going for a walk along the beach since he and the other Nordics just got onto the island, but he just wanted to get away and distract himself…
The beach is now crowded to the brim with so many families and couples milling about or relaxing on the pure white sand. Seriously, the sand was as white as snow; it's like winter in a summer paradise. Speaking of summer paradise, Ice spotted an ice cream van.
Ice's hand dove into a shorts pocket, but he forgot to put some change in. He felt such an idiot, standing there in the queue with a bunch of teens who eagerly talked about some water sports activity they just did earlier.
With a huff, he walked away, but to where? He doesn't know this place well. He never even heard of Deadly Island before! Who the hell named it that? Maybe some boring sci-fi nerd group who all established their 'bases' in their parent's basements... Okay, that was a little unfair of him to think that since he remembered that Fin's friend Estonia is a... genius of sorts. Maybe he'll ask Fin to hand him Estonia's phone number so he could ask Estonia to research on Deadly Island, at least so that he knows what hare-brained country owns the island...
Oh great, some little kids are squealing so loudly from all the excitement that it was giving Ice a headache. He only just wanted to sleep at the hotel room, but thanks to stupid Denmark he doesn't have a copy of the room key.
"EEEEEEK!"
"What the Christ... damn..." Ice whimpered and he turned around to see a little girl splashing in the shallow water and some kids backed away from her, yelling loudly.
"I can't imagine myself being that loud when I was a kid..." he murmured, ruffling his hair.
"Help me!" the little girl cried and a few people turned and screamed as they notice a hand covered in sloppy mouldering flesh grab a girl by the ankle. Some people laughed when they notice a plastic shark fin sticking out the water, thinking it's some father with a poor sense of humour trying to make his daughter laugh... Then the head rose out the water and a few people paled and gasped. Iceland stared, eyes widening and his breath stopped.
It was definitely a human head, but the dark hair fell out in clumps as it rose out the water, staining the water red and a staring eyeball suddenly rolled out the eye-socket, snapping the optic nerve like it was an elastic band and plopped into the water. The head opened its jaw and the teeth slowly dug into the little girl's leg, making her scream in panic and the rotting human pulled her, making the girl slip and she splashed face-first into the water, submerging her.
People were yelling and some ran at the person, trying to pull the girl out the water and someone grabbed the arms the attacker, but the arms snapped off like toothpicks and an observer nearby fainted. The men who grabbed the arms shouted in surprise and dropped the dismembered arms into the water with rough splashes. Someone grabbed the person by their head and managed to pull the head away from the little girl, flesh between its jaws as they moved, scrunching the oozing chunk of meat as slowly as a cow eats grass. A man, presumably the girl's father, picked her up and carried her away and frantically asked random people for a medical officer in a panic.
The human (if it can be called that) is very terrifying. Its clothes were ripped and shredded, looking as though they used to be men's clothing, and they were stained red and a sickly yellow colour... and the odour... the odour is TREMENDOUSLY nasty that not even the salty ocean air could disguise it. The man and woman holding the man by his head were overwhelmed by the smell and suddenly let go and back away, flicking their hands about to get the blood off them.
The bystanders horrified at the sight of the man as it stood up mechanically before its legs broke and it fell into the water, groaning loudly as it was submerged before it moved no more, remaining eye staring straight up to the sky through the red water.
People talked and whispered. People brought their cameras out or examining the film they took of the sudden attack. Some were impressed and saying it looked like a zombie while some were crying, terrified at the horrendous sight and immediately ran away. All of a sudden, the information of the attack percolated throughout the massive crowds of beach-goers and some evacuated in a disorganised panic.
All this time, Ice just stood there, feeling his stomach act up from hunger and the rotting smell of what is as bad as a strong of ammonia. He paled before he braved a step backwards and suddenly took off without stopping; heart pounding like one of his volcanoes went off.
"Aw man! Why can't I sleep with you, Nor?" Denmark complained as his Norwegian buddy put his empty suitcase inside a cupboard. The two got back to their room because Norway threatened Denmark with castration if he doesn't let him unpack his things to look for suncream.
"Because Is is my little brother. It's been ages since we slept together," he replied dully, thinking of his little brother's outburst from today with a sick feeling. "I just want to spend some time with him."
"But I don't want to sleep with Fin or Sve! Well, maybe Fin if we're on our own, but not with that oversized zombie!" Denmark complained.
"Hi."
"AAHHHH!" Denmark screamed and ran behind Norway, shutting his eyes tightly. Sweden stood by the door, stoic expression on his face the same as always.
"It's just Sve, you idiot," Norway hissed before turning to their oversized friend. "What do you want?"
"I haven't seen Fin since we unpacked... He said he'd only be out for an hour, but it's been about two hours now…" Sweden mumbled. Nor detected a hint of worry in his voice.
"You know him. He's probably getting carried away with the hockey equipment…" Norway said.
Sweden just hummed in agreement and smiled fondly a little. He turned to leave when someone suddenly collided into him, winding him and the person fell back to the floor, quickly scrambling to their feet and pushed Sweden inside the room before shutting the door and leaning against it, panting heavily and cold sweat running down their face.
"Is...?" Norway said worriedly and walked over to his shaking brother. He looked so terrified he's shaking uncontrollably.
"B-B-B-B..." Iceland stuttered and tried taking a shaky gulp, but it stuck and he coughed and groaned, eyes shutting tightly. Denmark hesitantly took a step forward.
"What happened?! You look so scared!"
Norway took another step and rested his hands on Iceland's shoulder, looking at him dead in the eyes.
"Hvað gerðist?" Norway whispered and felt his brother calm down a little, but only a bit.
"A-A child was swimming in the w-water... a-and some m-man... I dunno who they are because their face was..." Iceland tried to explain, but his breaths were deep and fast and his skin seemed to be tinged with grey.
"He's hyperventilating," Sweden remarked, glancing at Norway worriedly. "Take him to the hospital wing, there's one not far from here."
"NO!" Iceland gasped, "a m-man bit this child's leg and his limbs were snapped apart!"
"WHOA!" Denmark yelped. "A man chewed off a girl's leg and... wait, that sounds like a zombie!"
Norway glared at him and grunted, wrapping his arms around Iceland protectively.
"That's nonsense. There's no such thing as real zombies!"
"Well, maybe the zombies in Haiti exist cuz of ancient voodoo and all that-" Norway's glare intensified and Denmark shivered, sweatdropping. "Let's get him looked at!"
Sweden carried Iceland all the way to the hospital wing since he's that strong (Denmark's strong too, but Norway doesn't quite trust him to be as gentle) and they were immediately lead to a spare clean bed by an unoccupied doctor. They were the only people in the hospital wing.
"What's going on, then?" the elderly man asked, taking a glance at the pale boy trembling in Sweden's arms.
"I think he's in shock. He's hyperventilating..." Norway explained as Sweden placed Ice on the bed and rubbed his cheek soothingly. Iceland's skin seemed to tinge grey and the doctor listened close to hear his deep, rapid breathing.
The doctor left and came back with an oxygen tank on a trolley a few seconds later. He wrapped the elastic of the cup-shaped mask behind Ice's head and put the mask over Ice's mouth, giving him a relieving dose of fresh oxygen. Iceland's eyes fluttered shut and he leaned back against the thick pillows, chest rising slowly. Norway held his hand with not much emotion in his face, but they all know he's worried deep down. Iceland's fingers curled around Norway's palm.
Denmark was surprisingly silent and well-behaved the whole time as he just sat in one of the visitor's chairs by the main door, just staring at the ground while chewing his nails worriedly and his body rocked back and forth. Sweden noticed, but didn't do anything and sat on the other side of Ice's bed, looking at Norway's studious expression as it watched Ice's calm face.
"How's he?" Sweden asked.
"Better..." Worry laced his tone like a mother whose worried about her sick child. Sweden noticed Norway's mother-like quality and compared it to Finland's when he's around Sealand... Sweden remembered their union together. It was troublesome for Finland who acted as if he doesn't exist in the house as long as Sweden was married to Norway. The Fin was cold and distant and even disappeared for long periods of time only to turn up on some days drunk and giggling and joking that he dated Denmark while he was away, but of course he never did. But it still made Sweden look like a fool in front of many people, but he and Norway understood that it was their bosses fault for putting them through such hard times... and for a century Denmark was the one who suffered the most from the separation.
"What are you thinking about, Sverige?" Norway mumbled, not taking his eyes off Iceland's face.
"Our union years ago," Sweden replied.
"Why would you think of that? That's all in the past," Norway sighed (with what Sweden detected an underlying tone of anger), "I'm with Danmark, you're with Finland, so we're all happy."
"But I don't know if we are both happy with who we are with," Sweden started, "I'm happy with Fin, but are you happy with Danmark?"
Norway became silent. His thumb caressed the back of Iceland's hand.
"...I love all of you. I love you, I love Island, I even like Finland, Sealand is a good kid when he isn't being a brat… But I do like Danmark, but maybe not as much as I used to…"
"Well what could I do to help save our 'precious' relationship then?" a cold voice asked and Norway paled and turned around. Denmark just stood there. "When we started going out, you didn't seem to have any problems with me."
"Matthias…" Norway sighed and stoop up, "it's not you, but I think it's me."
"Really? You said you don't like me as much as you used to," Denmark growled.
"Yeah, well, whatever it is, it's just me!" Norway raised his voice slightly. "It's nothing about you! It's just me!"
"Maybe you're just trying not to say you want Sverige's dick instead of mine!" Denmark ranted.
"NO!" Norway yelled, "maybe it IS you being such a dick that I'm starting to feel more annoyed than loving of you!"
"Stop it," Sweden warned them and glanced at Iceland. "You're going to upset him."
"He's asleep!" Denmark said.
But when Norway looked, Iceland was gripping his hand tightly as his half-lidded eyes were glazed over.
"…Stop… please…" he murmured.
"Is…" Norway mumbled soothingly and held his hand. "Everything's okay… everything is alright…"
But Iceland feverishly shook his head and tears ran down his cheek and his body rocked wildly. The oxygen mask hid his mouth, but it didn't muffle his sobs.
"G-get this mask off!" he cried in pain and his limbs flailed wildly as if his nerves are electrified, trying to yank the mask off. Shocked, Sweden seized his wrists, but Norway pulled the elastic of the mask and pulled it off. He gagged as he smelt a rotten smell coming from the plastic mask and threw it at the oxygen machine. Iceland breathed deeply as he was sat up on the bed, sounding relieved and he half-leaned on Sweden for support, eyes still shut.
"What the heck just…" Denmark whispered when the scene unravelled. His eyes travelled to the oxygen machine and noticed it was still running. He walked over and flicked at the switch to shut it off. He wrinkled his nose when he smelt the horrible gas too. "Eww! Smells like my underwear on wash day!"
"Are you okay?" Norway quickly asked Iceland as he held his hand.
"B-Better now…" the boy sighed and looked at his brother.
"Still, what the hell just happened?" Denmark questioned blankly. "That gas did NOT smell like oxygen!"
"That's because oxygen shouldn't smell like anything at all…" Norway murmured darkly.
"Is it job-time?" Denmark smirked. Norway nodded wordlessly and the Dane turned and walked out of sight towards the doctors' office.
"…Is it alright to let HIM talk to the doctor?" Sweden asked and Norway nodded.
Denmark fumed about what Norway said earlier, but he couldn't deny that he noticed the Norwegian was looking as if he was put off by the Dane…
"I'll save the relationship by kicking the doctor's arse for hurting Iceland!" he planned out loud as he approached the door to the doctor.
He opened the door to find a small room with a few desks and computers, but nobody was in.
"Hello~! Anybody in?" he called out with a smirk. "We have a problem with one of the patients… you gave them noxious gas instead of oxygen, so I'll kick your arse if you don't come out~!"
Suddenly, the sound of a chair being knocked down alerted him and he looked at the far corner of the room.
Quietly while smirking, Denmark slowly walked around the desk, readying himself to scare whatever doctor is crawling on the floor, obviously trembling from the awesome aura of Denmark-
"Do you feel okay, Is?" Norway asked again and he felt Iceland's forehead. It felt normal…
"I'm fine…" Iceland huffed.
Sweden just watched the two, also wondering why Denmark was taking so long to get one person. The now-switched-off oxygen machine was just sitting there. He wondered what that horrible smell was and why it gave out oxygen at first and then that weird smell…
"…Hey, where's Danmark?" Sweden asked.
"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The three males just blinked and looked at each other, registering the scream in their minds.
"…Dare I go and check on that idiot?" Norway asked.
"GUYS! GUYS! LET'S GET OUTTA HERE!" Denmark screamed and he appeared besides them, looking deathly pale. "THERE'S A ZOMBIE IN THE DOCTOR'S OFFICE!"
Norway growled and he stood up. His patience has reached the end of the tether.
"Danmark…" his voiced oozed dangerously with venom, "there's no such thing as zombies… get it?"
"NOT THIS TIME! I SAW ONE!" Denmark shrieked again. "Quick! Grab Island! Sverige, go look for your wife 'cause we're leaving!"
"I'm not leaving because of you," Norway raised his voice.
A loud groan was heard.
The four males blinked and glanced at each other.
They all peeked around the wall divider.
One of the doctors that they haven't seen before was slowly walking towards them, wearing the normal labcoat, but they had a massive wound on their shoulder. His eyes were blank, mouth agape.
"Th-that's a zombie!" Denmark whimpered, hiding behind Norway.
"It can't be…" Norway's eye twitched, but his heart was beating nervously. The same smell they smelt from the oxygen tank earlier was similar to the man's smell, except it was more powerful and overwhelming.
Someone tugged hard on Norway's arm, but it wasn't Denmark. It was Iceland, who started trembling again.
"It looked like the man who bit that child's leg! Let's go!" he spoke urgently.
"Are you sure?" Norway gulped. Even he was starting to think something was wrong…
Sweden stood in front of them and grabbed a chair.
"What are you doing?! Hitting them in the head is the only way to kill zombies!" Denmark shouted.
The man raised his arms and his mouth opened wider, the flesh of the mouth being very black and rotten. Even his teeth had completely disappeared into the mass of black ooze that dribbled from the mouth and onto the floor.
"I'll have to do this…" Sweden murmured and he walked towards the creature, raised the chair in the air.
"Hit him as hard as you can!" Denmark shouted and Norway covered Iceland's eyes.
It happened really quickly. Sweden brought the chair down with great force on top of the man's head and a loud crunching sound was heard before the zombie groaned and collapsed to the floor, completely motionless.
Norway moved his hand and Iceland stared. Denmark breathed a sigh of relief and stood up.
"Good thing Sweden is strong enough to kill that zombie! Hahahaha!"
"…Did you think I enjoyed killing a human being?" Sweden turned and asked him darkly.
"Wait… Didn't you say you saw a man bite a child earlier?" Norway asked Iceland, frowning.
"Yeah… he just popped out of the water and grabbed the child's leg," Iceland explained, shuddering. Norway hugged him calmly.
"Then…" Denmark's smile faded and he looked at the rest of his family seriously, "that means that we should get out of here as soon as possible!"
"How come?" Sweden asked.
Denmark rolled his eyes. "Duh! When you get bitten by a zombie, you turn into one! And if the man Ice talked about is still around, biting people, then they'll turn into zombies and they bite other people until they become zombies and then the cycle goes on!"
"Okay, let me explain one thing, Danmark…" Norway growled, "so far, we haven't seen ANYONE being bitten and then come back as a 'zombie' because there are no such things!"
Denmark shouted, "but what if we go look for the little girl that Island saw who was bitten? If we find her and she's a zombie, then it'll prove that some sort of disease has changed her into the undead!"
"That's enough!" Norway ranted, "There are no such things as zombies, there won't ever be zombies around and that's that!"
Denmark just stared at the Norwegian and sighed, looking furious, but didn't comment.
"…I'll go look for that little girl. I'll prove to you that I'm not a total nutcase." He said softly. "I'm not always stupid, you know. But you seem happy berating me for every mistake I make, so that's why I always make mistakes…" He walked off until he disappeared from sight.
Norway was still holding Iceland closely, but his grip tightened without realising it until Iceland complained and he let him go. Sweden just looked at the man on the floor in shock when he noticed the body seemingly shrink as steam rose off the flesh until it shrank and disappeared, leaving just the bones and the skeleton behind. Norway and Iceland turned to see what Sweden was looking at and they stared as the flesh melted off the dead zombie like steam.
"…We better go look for an official," Norway murmured and he turned to walk away.
"W-Wait!" Iceland half-yelped, "how come?! That thing nearly attacked us! What are the officials gonna do?!"
"I don't know, but it's the most sensible thing to do right now," Norway explained. "If we sort things out before Danmark tries to justify his stupid reasoning, then we'll spare him the pain of being imprisoned for being an idiot."