Renji
He walked away from Rukia quicker than he meant to, he knew she wasn't the most touchy feely type and he didn't want to creep her out.
If he was honest he wished the moment with Rukia lasted longer, minus the zombie sitch. He hoped Uryu and Shinji had a good reason for disrupting him.
Renji was the first to greet them at the door. "So what is it? found a cure?"
Uryu squinted at a vile. "Not quite, but we're close."
Renji threw his arms up in the air. "That's all you have to tell us?"
"No, there's more." He continued still not looking at Renji. This angered the redhead.
"Would you spit it out then?" Renji gritted his teeth, trying not to to take out his stress on him.
"Well, we figured out how the "virus" works,in this case it takes over the host by killing almost every part in the brain except some vital points. Then it begins to take over the hosts motor system, sense of smell etc."
"So its a parasite, not a virus." Shinji cut in dumbing down Uryu's speech before it got to long. Renji nodded in appreciation.
"So how does that help us?" Rukia suddenly spoke making Renji jump. She shot Renji a look.
"Sorry you're so short I didn't see you there." He teased.
"Well now we know how to target it. So we're a lot closer than before. Which is good for us because hopefully that means ending this chaos." Shinji spoke excitedly. Renji hoped he was right. But even if he was how were they going to get past all the horrors they've been witness to. How were they supposed to grieve losing so many people? Would things ever get back to normal? or would a new plague start all over. This wasn't a dream or a video game, there was no restart button. Renji felt stressed just at the thought of things never being the same. Never seeing his parents again. The redhead sighed deeply. Rukia rubbed his back gently, she didn't speak she just stayed close. Renji ruffled her hair slightly letting her know he appreciated her.
Before: Pre Zombie.
Renji trudged to class in the rain, he didn't bother wearing a jacket letting the rain hit his skin and soak through his shirt. He had trouble caring about his well being, he was more concerned about his friends.
"Renji! You're soaked!" Ichigo shouted while running up to meet him.
Renji shook out the water from his hair as if to prove Ichigo's point. "Yeah I guess" Renji shrugged. Ichigo shot him a disapproving look.
"What?"
"You know we care about you, and you just seem so ... down all the time, except when you're cheering us up. I just want you to know I'm here too I guess." Ichigo said sounding a little too much like a father to Renji making him smirk.
"Why are you laughing?" Ichigo's brows knitted together in confusion.
"Nothing. Just you'd make a great dad." Renji said before patting Ichigo on the back. "Thanks." The redhead left Ichigo standing alone looking more confused than ever.
Now:
Orihime.
Orihime felt more useless than ever, All she could do was pass out or cry. She wished she was more like Shinji and Uryu. Maybe then she could contribute more to the cure effort. It wasn't like she wasn't smart, she was. She was top of all her classes, especially in biology. But every time she offered her help she felt like a joke. She was so afraid she'd make everything worse, that she didn't try at all. Orihime busied her self by organizing the supplies, marking things down on a map of the hospital she found pinned on the wall, luckily it didn't have too much blood on it. Since the others were busy with the flashlight she was using the bottom of the door as a light. She was doing fairly well before the light got blocked. Confused she squinted closer at the bottom on the door. She leaned in closer till her eyes adjusted and the sight of a decomposing face was all she could see. It's mouth gnashing at the door violently reddish black ooze dripping onto the floor. Orihime jumped back and covered her mouth to prevent her from screaming. Orihime took a couple breaths and steadied her breathing before looking under the door again. There was more than one, and now they had been spotted.
"Fuck fuck fuck." Orihime whispered. Why was she such an idiot. Now she screwed everyone here.
"Did you just swear? " Ichigo asked form behind making her silently scream. Orihime put a finger to her lips and gestured for Ichigo to look under the door. "Fuck me." He turned his head away in disgust.
"It's all my fault, I was using the door for a light and now I'm going to kill all of us what have I done. Orihime held her face in her hands. She wanted to disappear.
"Hey, it's okay I'm sure everything will be okay, I doubt it was your fault, the probably just saw us hide in here, don't blame yourself please Orihime." Ichigo's expression soften as he spoke.
"Well what are we going to do?" She asked her throat tightening as she did so, she was so tired of running.
"We'll try stay quiet it for now and hope they move on, it look like there's only two out there right now, so we should be OK." Ichigo said as he rubbed her shoulders to comfort her. "I'll tell everyone what we found okay?"
Orihime nodded. trying her best to stay positive despite the situation. How was he able to keep his emotions in check so well? Was he hurting more than he was letting on? Would he tell her if he did?
