Author's note: It's me again, thanks so much for the reviews on the last chapter. Glad you folks liked it! In this chapter, I wanted to take the zombie apocalypse to a whole new level, since I love over-the-top things so much. Heh. And yes, Tom turned into a zombie. Oh well, it's a zombie apocalypse fic. Nobody's safe. At all. Enjoy the chapter~
Title: And they lived happily ever after.
Rating: M (gore, adult topics)
Pairings: Shinra x Celty, Shizuo x Izaya
Disclaimer: We don't own Durarara! or any of its characters. We could claim to be the owners of zombies, but...Okay, we own all except Tom~
Shizuo's hands were shaking as his heartbeat level raised. His heart thumped so fast, he almost thought that his heart was gonna explode.
Remembering that he had other things to take care of, Shizuo hurriedly headed towards Tom, who laid there on the ground. The anxious blonde crouched down next to the man, as he reached out to hold Tom's hand.
''Tom…san?'' Shizuo rasped, as he held on to his boss.
No answer.
''Shit!'' he cursed, and this time he placed his ear against Tom's crimson stained chest, just to pick up any pulse, or heartbeat..Anything..
Still nothing.
Shizuo lost it. If it's the worst feeling he has ever experienced his entire life, then it would be this exact moment. He still held on to Tom and cried, pain slicing deep in his heart.
''Hhhhaaa..'' Tom suddenly breathed lowly, chest heaving.
Shizuo held his head up and stared at Tom. Just maybe there was still hope for his boss. He would call the hospital, people would come and save him, and everything will be okay. Everything started to take a turn towards the better.
But what happened next was a shock. As soon as Tom opened his eyes, his irises weren't the original colour anymore. Instead, a pair of granite, cloudy eyes stared back at him, which reminded Shizuo of blindness. His face a pale, greenish colour and his lips was so dry that it started to pick and fall off.
''No..'' Shizuo said as he stood up and backed away, disbelief washed over him.
Tom-san turned into one of…them.
''It's me! Fuck!'' He tried to reason with his boss, but Tom only crawled towards him, limping and stretching his fingers to grab him. He moaned lowly, opening his mouth to sink his teeth into any human flesh he'll come across. It was weird, seeing his good friend, turn into some sort of monster.
Shizuo had to get out of there. He couldn't bare killing off his senpai.
And suddenly, six or seven zombies approached him out of the blue, popping out of nowhere.
''H-how did they get in?!'' Shizuo asked himself, watching the zombies suddenly fill up the empty spaces in the dark, haunting warehouse.
And when the dread formed at his chest was too heavy for him to burden, he turned on his heel and ran out of the warehouse.
The vast, velvety expanse of blackness darkened as the night went on. How it suddenly became night amazed him. Did he really spend that long at the warehouse? He didn't know. The sun had completed its tour for the day, and had now been replaced by myriad stars, which dotted the inky canopy.
He felt a hot, painful tear leaking down his cheeks, but he kept on running until he reached the entrance, clumsily knocking over rusty, crude oil cans on the way. Shizuo's heart sank as a group of silhouettes ambled towards his way. They were everywhere. The creatures were everywhere. He felt like losing his sanity by every minute, when the zombies surrounded the warehouse. He scanned them nervously, all of them had the same amount of hunger as Mr. Hashimoto. Zombies were closing in from not only inside the warehouse, but outside too.
As one of them suddenly lunged forward at Shizuo, he dodged and kicked it's back, where it fell to the ground and into the crude oil cans. In the state of panic, Shizuo quickly took out the lighter of his cigarette and fumbled with it, sparking up a flame. He breathed a sigh of relief momentarily, but more zombies were getting closer and closer to him.
''Tsk!'' he clicked his tongue as he was rushed, so he threw the lighter at the oil, setting it ablaze. The thick smell of gasoline attacked his lungs and he quickly made a run for it. The fire only intensified more and soon consumed the warehouse, thick black smoke released into the air.
His relief was short. In front of him, another group of zombies made his way towards him. And another. Never-ending creatures filled the landscape fast.
They were everywhere.
Going back to Ikebukuro was an easy task for him. He had to figure out a way back into the city fast, because he was at the outskirts of town. Practically, he was at the industrial area, somewhere at the suburbs. Where the road was rocky and dusty red, and the people there never smiled.
Of course, he was surrounded by 'them'.
'They' are no other than mindless beings who lurk in the shadows of your nightmares, waiting silently for their time to strike. They are creatures without a conscience, only made to kill and feast on the innocent.
So he fought his way back home. HeiwajimaShizuo fought like a beast – which is to say, he fought the creatures with ease. He hadn't fought like this since..well.. he couldn't even remember. Despite being a man of peace and millions of time he's said that he despised using violence, his body took over and said: Kill,Kill,Kill,Kill…
One after one, decayed bodies start to pile up on the ground with a moan and a grunt. Some even kicked and screamed, disoriented and pitiful as it quivered and wept. Shizuo had just delivered a massive hit to it's head with his fist, causing the ghastly figure to stumble on the ground, twitching around. Souless, rancid bodies would squirm and writhe, only to get to their feet once again. And again, Shizuo only clenched his fists harder to punch the back of their heads with all the force he could muster up. They fell to the ground, shaking uncontrollably until finally, stood still. A dance of death.
He stood still for a long time, panting and trembling as he looked at the amount of creatures he ended with a frown. These are people. Only, there weren't people anymore… They've become animals. Animals who tear apart other humans to satisfy their ravenous desire for flesh and blood. The thought of such creatures lurking around at the darkest corners of Ikebukuro, hungry and drooling for any life form out there, left Shizuo in the state of panic.
He's startled as another blood-curling scream penetrated through his eardrums. Quickly ducking behind a car, Shizuo's eyes widened at the sight of a man getting cornered into an alley, not far from where he's at. They knocked him down, grabbing his head and legs as he cried for mercy. The blond's heart thumped faster and faster when the man's crazed eyes ooze out somehow in an ungraceful manner. They tore off his flesh, ripping him apart like wild beasts. It started with his feet, when he's still alive. He cried out in agony but they continued to gnaw and snap his body along with disgusting sounds of bones and cartilage cracking and being pulled apart.
The man's skin deteriorated within seconds, and Shizuo watched every detail of it. The sight was sharp and clear and burned in the back of his mind for the rest of his life. He'll never forget how the man's body sunken and his skin decaying. The man's skin quickly decolourised and bits of dried skin fell to the ground, layered with blood. It showed his muscles, which was a disturbing vermilion red. Just when his eyes became a sickly greyish colour, he vomited on the ground, blood spilling and Shizuo could almost swear that he spat out an organ as the man continued to hack and cough violently. It snarled in the end, his voice gruff and unintelligent. It didn't sound like a human anymore. It sounded like an animal. Truly an animal. Whatever it was, he's not planning on staying for long. He has to go somewhere safe. He has to go to Shinra's.
'Shit...'' Shizuo cursed to himself, falling to his knees with his hands buried in his hair, just pulling and tugging his locks with all the cruelty in the world. He'd laughed at this, if he could. If only he could find his voice, he'd laughed at how everything turned out. He'd laughed at how he's no different than them, because they're beasts.
Just like him..
A beast.
And after all of that, Shizuo could only think of his brother. His friends, and everyone that he cared about. He lost all contact with them, because nobody answered his calls or messages. None. It was as if the whole world's plunged into terrible chaos, and fell into silence. Not only that he couldn't communicate with them, but he couldn't protect them. Just look at Tanaka Tom for example. It made him feel like he's the worst.
But at least he's still alive. He's still walking around with blood running through his veins, right? His heart's still beating inside his chest. Looking around, everything felt exactly like the end of the world as everybody knew it. Just for a moment, the creatures remained still again, and stood up, undeserving life evident in their cold, dead eyes. Shizuo clenched his fists until his nails dug in his skin, desperate to escape from the sounds of low moaning and gnawing. The ghastly being snapped it's jaw like it was finding raw meat to sick it's teeth into.
He got up to his feet and felt something wet running down his nose. Shizuo froze for a bit, realizing that his nose was bleeding. Horrified, he quickly wiped the blood that ran down his nose with his sleeve and choked back a tear. He really needed to get out of here before those..whatever it was gorge their teeth on him too. So he ran and ran. In between buildings, ducking between alleys, shoulders just brushing past the walls of storefronts and shop houses. He could hear footsteps behind him, but he didn't care. All he did was run. Shizuo knew that the undead was on his tail, but he was fast. Years of chasing Izaya and mastering parkour finally paid off. He smiled bitterly to himself, thinking how he never caught up to the flea but it did help run away from the zombies, at least.
And he's fast, so the sounds of his footsteps disappeared as fast as it appeared, leaving the zombies that were following him to turn back quickly, when everything became quiet again. Shizuo was still shivering from what happened, so angry, so stunned, so upside-down confused that he just had to stop at an alley to calm himself down, paralysed from fear. He wanted to kill everything, he wanted to vanish into gusts and never come back. What's the fucking use? Now wasn't the time for self-pity. The voice in the back of his mind told himself again and again. It's never your fault..It never was.
He looked at his arm, his skin pale and his nails were dark, the end bits covered with dried blood. A few scrapes, some wounds and a fleck of dirt. But no bites. His hair was in a mess. His stomach churned repeatedly, and the darkness of the city didn't help him at all. Shizuo had never felt so relieved when he heard the sounds of horns honking at the Highway. He could barely see it, but there were people inside their cars. They were in a jam for what seemed forever, the red and yellow lights flashing through the streets where he's at, painting a pretty normal picture of a pretty normal life at the city.
Shaking his head, he looked around wildly for any signs of a zombie trailing him. The blonde grabbed a sign pole and ripped it off as the piece of metal crumbled to the ground. He held it close with him just in case he needed to kill those demons. But they weren't near him. For now. At the corners of the crossroads stood a young woman with a child in her hands, just sitting on the asphalt with tears brimming in her eyes. Besides her was a pool of blood and a razor sharp knife, it's contours were stark in the middle of red. The blood was dripping from her arms.
''Hey, you okay?'' Shizuo asked, signpole tight in his grip.
The woman sat still with the baby wrapped up in a piece of clothes, ignoring his presence. As if she awaited death. Shizuo looked closely, and he could tell that the baby was not moving at all. There wasn't any cries or mewls or anything like that. He bowed his head down in silence as the mother sobbed and sobbed until her shoulders shook. Suddenly, she faced him, her expression hostile. Still holding on to the signpole as if it was his life, he took a deep breathe.
''You shouldn't stay out here..'' Shizuo continued, his voice was rasp and shaky as he lightly touched her shoulder to comfort her.
What happened next caught him by surprise. Because at that very moment, the woman chose to shriek and push him away, her eyes widening in terror. The smell of blood on her was antagonizingly fetid.
''You..You're here to kill me? Right?'' she screamed and dropped her dead baby to the ground. The move enabled Shizuo to have another look at it, and he could make out that the baby's stomach was cut open and it's intestines spewed out in a mess. Shizuo dropped his signpole to the ground with a loud clang, too petrified to figure out what was happening. She's insane. The effect of what happened over the past 24 hours on people was terrifying. Crying out, the woman started to scream as wet tears ran down her cheeks, her hands covering her face as she sobbed uncontrollably. Panic flickered through the blonde's eyes because not far from there, the bloody creatures appeared at the corner next to a main gate. And that's when he was hit with a sudden realization. She's..attracting them. With her sound.
''Tch..Oi, lady. Calm down!'' Shizuo whisper-shouted at her, holding out his hands in defence. Out of the corners of his eyes, more zombies in groups started to gather at the end of the road and towards them. It spread out from it's group and scattered around, mouth open with drool leaking out of their horrid mouths. He scanned the mob who had followed her voice as his body start to heat up.
The lady didn't take notice of the incoming zombies, and Shizuo glared at her viciously. He huffed as the woman screamed, attracting even more unwanted attention. Over at the other side of the road, a particularly ugly-looking zombie was ahead than the rest, a snicker embroidered his lips as he snap his jaw open and close like castanets. He was lumbering at them, as if he can smell fresh meat and blood. He looked ready to feast on the two like a predator he was.
''You're on your own.'' Shizuo decided, scrambling up as he scampered off, away from the unfortunate woman who seemingly had a large group of the zombies behind her. Yet another fresh victim for the evergrowing army of the undead. The eery road hooted with laughter as Shizuo picked up his speed and ran. His last memory of that woman was that she was laughing madly, but he wasn't gonna risk it and turn back. It's either run or die. As simple as that.
Shizuo closed his eyes when the woman screamed out in pain as the zombies finally caught up to her. With crazed eyes, they grabbed her leg and pulled her down. She kicked and screamed, but as she shook off one, another zombie replaced it. She squirmed into the ground desperate to get away. Soon they were at her thigh, and suddenly, they fell upon him like a swarm like bees, around her head, his chest, and her arms. They surrounded her and their mouth twitched with drool, craving for human flesh. They gnawed her shoulder while pinning her down, and soon her shouts were nothing more than a memory. He ran until he couldn't hear them anymore. He saw everything that he didn't wanted to see, so he refused to turn back.
Shizuo sighed a long sigh of relief, his distress lessening as he stepped up to Shinra's door, panting harshly. Shizuo started to tremble. At the base of the stairs, the cement edge cracked under the blonde's feet. A chill went down his spine but he ignored it, and reached out to knock on the doctor's door. His fingers turned white while he waited for an answer. The anxious blonde stood there praying to deity that the zombies didn't follow him. He still had so many questions that his brain felt like it was going to melt.
Thank you for reading~ Reviews are always appreciated, so don't forget to leave one. After this chapter everybody has to understand, why I adore my sweet Shizu-chan so much~ *snickers*
Next chapter: Everybody is heading over to Shinra, so...if you want to see how he's dealing with this Armageddon, stay tuned~
