"When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied."
― Herophilus
The group headed out at first light. They feared what they would find when they got to the end of the line, however they first had to worry about finding the start. The reconvened at the sight of the struggle. The putrid scent of the rotting corpse filled their noses long before they reached the area. They covered their noses with the neck of their shirts but it didn't lessen the smell much. Even if they wanted to get out of dodge and find Haruhi, they spent time searching around the area, making sure that Haruhi really had gone to the road and that there hadn't been another person there.
They concluded that it had to be Haruhi, the people who destroyed the pension were long gone by now, safely tucked away in the city away from the creatures. Why would they stick around to see if their prey was dead? If the creatures and fire hadn't killed them, surely, the rain and cold would catch up with them and starvation would kill them off. There was no sense in wasting any more men to strike each survivor down. However, that is exactly what saved them, no one with a functioning brain running after them with the intent of putting them down. Just a single crazed creature that was easily taken care of by a once simple girl.
It was a silent journey, bitter feelings resonated in the group. Tamaki still stung by Takashi's words, and the taller male was not about to apologize for how he brought that forward. There is always a better way to deal with things, but given the circumstances no one forced him to think about hurting Tamaki's feelings. Which were the least of everyone's problems. They still had to worry about finding Haruhi, a place to stay, food, and if the rain and chill would make anyone sick.
They were thankful that the rain had let up, but because of the rain, certain areas of the forest were flooded. Areas that hadn't been the previous night. After a lot of cursing under their breaths and working around sections, they finally made it to the road.
There was a ditch at the side of the road, a trickle of excess water running off the road rushed through the centre of it. Bushes and saplings were growing along the once cleared ditch, providing enough cover for Satoshi to sneak out. He stayed in a crouch as he picked his way to the road. He was still before he looked up and down the road before signalling to the others. It was clear for miles either way. If anyone or anything were to come through, they could easily slip back into the forest and break away before the person or thing could catch them.
As they stood on the road, they debated whether to walk along the road in case Haruhi moved back out onto the road, or if they should attempt to find tracks in the forest where it led back in. Finally, they broke in three groups. Takashi, Ritsu and Satoshi went back into the forest to see if they could find any leads to where Haruhi might be. There was a road sign indicating spots of interests and stops along the road, which is where the other two groups headed. There was a shrine up ahead, which Tamaki, Yasuchika and Kaoru headed for. Tamaki and Kaoru weren't fighters, and they doubted that there would be anything at the shrines, and if it were just a single threat then Yasuchika would be able to take it out.
Mitsukuni, Kyouya and Hikaru turned and headed back towards the house. They prayed that the rain would've soaked enough of the house to lessen the flames and scare away the rest of the creatures. If so, they would start attempting to get to the medical supplies, assess the damage and see if they could move the medical supplies to the shrine. If it were empty, they would set up base there.
The walk back to the pension was short, and they snuck up away from the city. The group hunkered down near some bushes and stayed silent, listening for any sign that there was people still lounging about, awaiting their return. It was silent, besides the faint crackle of fire still burning. However, the majority of the fire had gone down.
The roof of the house had caved in, they couldn't tell, but they were sure that the upper floor had collapsed as well. Charred siding and broken glasses was the key feature of the once peaceful pension. The heavy scent of smoke still clogged their lungs but didn't make it hard for them to breath. Just before Kyouya was about to assess that it was safe to survey the inside of the house, two people walked out of the forest.
They had weapons. A male and a female. They looked strong enough for a good fight, but they wouldn't risk a fight. Especially when they didn't have a sure place to heal up afterwards. Kyouya glanced back and saw Mitsukuni sneaking away from the two of them, edging along the forest to get a better spot to listen.
As he got closer, he could begin to pick out keywords, but it wasn't until he hauled himself into a tree and positioned himself about them that he could clearly pick out their words. They were speaking quietly to assure that they wouldn't attract unwanted attention.
"...hauled ass pretty quickly," the woman spoke, kicking a charred board with her toe. She crossed her arms and sighed, "Shame that we burned the building, could've been a good place for us to start up a safe house. Y'know, get away from the creatures and have a pretty secure life."
"I thought the execution of this was shabby," the man admitted, staring into the charred house, "We didn't know who was in there. They could've had children in there that they were keeping safe. Who knows what kind of supplies they had. If we had made friends with them, we could've been a lot better off."
"Yeah," the girl chuckled, shaking her head, "but the 'higher ups'" her voice was wracked with disgust as she said that, "didn't like the fact that four people had managed to slip out without much harm or any fatalities on their part," she snorted, "They should've killed that bitch and her minions the first time they kidnapped that girl, what's-her-name."
"Well, kidnapping someone is easier if it's just a small group, now they have – well Nobu says he saw nine maybe ten people running away. They were pretty fast. The tallest was maybe six foot, shortest just under five feet," the man said, rubbing his mouth and glancing around the forest, "Do you think we should just run off? Go to another town and see if we can join another group? It'll be easier that way, no more petty killing."
The girl was silent, staring into the fire eaten wood and plastic, after a while, she timidly nodded. He held out his hand, she slipped it in and they headed off. Mitsukuni stayed in the tree until he could no longer hear them whispering to each other, then he jumped down, landing where the couple had been moments before. Kyouya and Hikaru slipped out from their hiding spots and the smaller blonde told them everything.
They needed to tell the others that the group that had attacked them was much larger than they originally thought them to be. First thing, they carefully entered the house, most of the house was nothing more than ash and splintered plants that lay at their feet anyways. A few walls and half of the stairs were still standing. They needed to see if they could salvage the medical supplies so they could later bring it to the shrine.
The group that was assigned to the shrine had just made it to the parking lot. Abandoned cars were rusted and had vines growing as they reclaimed the spot humans had taken. They moved silent, a morning mist had rolled down from the mountains and made the area look creepier than it actually was. They crept slowly, at the advice of Yasuchika. Better safe than sorry.
While they could've forgone the hesitation, since Tamaki noticed a carving in a tree deeper into the forest and quickly dove off the path to see what it was. Yasuchika cursed silently and they followed him. It was a symbol. Marked roughly with a knife it seemed. None of them were great trackers, but that was a sign loud and clear that someone recently had come into the area. They saw the shavings on the ground and quickly followed it back to the path. It was defiantly Haruhi, she probably would've gone to the shrine. A peaceful area that at the start of the apocalypse had offered health and food to those in need. After getting word that a person had become a creature within the compound, people steered clear. Wary of the shrines. Wondering if their god, whoever that was, was punishing them.
Promise of seeing their female friend again pushed them on, nearly rushing up the steps. As they reached the top, they slowed down, not wanting to draw attention to themselves. It was silent, but not deafening silent. A safe silence. The kind where there was still the rustle of wind, chirp of birds and scurrying of animals. No crows suddenly burst from the roof of a shrine, crying as they flew off being spooked by some mysterious force. No creature burst from the walls and made for them with grotesque deformed body parts.
No, it looked exactly how it should. The buildings had vines growing up the side, there was mold everywhere that the rain could hit and dust everywhere else. It looked like it was in dire need of maintenance. They wandered about the complex, moving slowly and freezing every time a creak or groan of the buildings interrupted the silence. It took longer than it had taken Haruhi to find the building she had crept in. Yasuchika saw where Haruhi had dug her blade between the door and the wall, and saw the broken lock. After telling the others to wait, he slipped inside.
Boxes and supplies were covered in a thick layer of dust. It didn't take a genius to see where the dust was disturbed and follow the puddle of water that had dropped off Haruhi. There was a damp area on the ground where she had laid down. It took him a moment to decipher other areas. Scuffs and marks in the dust that were fresher than the ones Haruhi had caused. He couldn't tell if it was another person or if it was Haruhi leaving, however one thing was certain. She was no longer in the building and they couldn't track her down with the three best trackers of their group, who were currently still in the forest.
It didn't take much longer than an hour for all nine people to regroup, sharing their experiences with each other. Takashi entered the room that Haruhi had been in and after a few minutes came out and said that there had been two other people in the room after Haruhi. Larger footprints and smaller footprints were distinguishable between the scuffs that Haruhi had made when she had entered the building. Worry and fear shot through them, what had happened to the ex-cross dresser? Had she been found and taken by someone? Did someone kill her?
The later was hazy, but Takashi knew they didn't kill her when she was in the room. There was no sign of a struggle, and they all knew she would've struggled until her last dying breath. She was alive when she left that building, whether or not she was still alive was another question. As they debated whether or not they should check for signs that Haruhi had left the compound, rain started dropping. Fat freezing drops of rain splattered down, slow at first but quickly picked up as strong gusts of wind blew it in.
Mitsukuni broke the door to the main temple down and everyone raced in. It was pitch black in the temple, a thick smell of dust clogged their nose. Takashi suddenly stiffened and grasped Mitsukuni's shoulder, telling him something was very wrong. The room suddenly filled with light, momentarily blinding the group. When their eyes adjusted, preparing for a fight, but they saw they were surrounded by people covered head to toe in black. Weapons pointed at them, guns and swords. Ready to kill if any of them moved.
Satoshi cursed and slid the katana roughly back into it's sheathe and raised his hands above his head, quickly giving up. There was no chance that they could outfight this. They were surrounded and everyone had a gun aimed at them. One move and someone would end up dead at their feet, and it wouldn't be one of their friends. Kyouya dropped his gun to the floor and the others, who had weapons placed them down as well.
A man stepped forwards. Black pants, a dark hoodie that had fabric across the mouth, giving ultimate darkness to his face. He had dark leather gloves on as well, which gripped a gun. Takashi could see the man didn't like holding a gun, just by the grip, the guy had on it, but that didn't mean the man wouldn't pass up the opportunity to shoot someone if it was to protect them. It was their group of nine against a group who obviously was using the shrine as a safe house.
"She wasn't alone," the man laugh a creepy, yet familiar laugh as he put the gun in a holster. He pulled a familiar, but ratty, puppet out of his pocket and held it up. With a tug, the hood fell down, revealing Nekozawa. "Welcome, Hosts...or should I say ex-hosts."
Tamaki nearly burst out crying in relief, for seeing a familiar face and an old friend. He stepped forwards, but Kyouya held up a hand, stopping the blonde and looking at Nekozawa. Introductions could be held off for a moment. There wasn't something more important to address.
"She?" Kyouya asked, raising his eyebrow.
"Fujioka," Nekozawa tugged his hood back up, forgoing the mouth guard. The group lowered their weapons at Nekozawa's command. They walked through the screen doors that had been painted on the other side so that if anyone entered the first area they wouldn't suspect an entire group was living just beyond the screens. Especially during the night.
The room was very vast and held many people. It was probably the largest group that the nine of them ever encountered. Possibly thirty people were moving about in the shrine. An area was sectioned off, clearly the sleeping area. A medical area was to the north, and was sectioned off by white sheets. The kitchen area was closer to the sleeping quarters and the rest of the space had people lounging about, talking and eating quietly. The talking had started up once the group had re-entered. Knowing that danger had passed.
Nekozawa's hunched over form was familiar, but none of them had seen him without a cloak so it still looked rather odd. When Tamaki asked him where it was, Nekozawa just chuckled his dark chuckle and said he couldn't sneak when he was wearing a billowing cloak. Causing most in the group to swallow nervously. They didn't want to get on his bad side, before he could scare them half to death easily, and now he could easily slit their throats without even a bat of his eyelashes.
He got to the medical area and told them to wait as he entered and whispered to someone. A few minutes later, a petite woman with dark hair that hung in her eyes exited. She wore an apron that had patches of dried blood on it, and a facemask. She removed the mask and revealed an apathetic face. Reiko Kanazuki. Mitsukuni flew towards the girl, wrapping her in his arms, at first she was surprised then a look of happiness washed her apathy away and she hugged him back just as tightly.
"You're alive," Mitsukuni breathed, pulling away and touching the girl's face, his eyes started to redden as tears threatened to spill, but he stroked her cheek before kissing her. The others politely averted their eyes to allow the couple their moment. Reiko had a faint blush on her cheeks, and a smile on her face when she turned to address the entire group.
"You cannot enter the medical area so filthy," when she spoke it was her normal tone, as if she didn't care either way but was following the rules she was assigned with. "Umehito will take you to the springs to clean off before you will be allowed to see Fujioka."
"What's wrong with her," Kyouya asked, stepping forwards, "Why is she in there?"
"She has bruising on her throat, as well as scratches on her throat, she is sick from the rain and there are also her old injuries that aren't helping her situation," Reiko answered simply, no one bothered to ask her how she knew Haruhi's gender. It would be obvious to someone who was helping Haruhi medically, at this point people could tell even if it wasn't during medical examination. Everyone was worried about Haruhi, but Nekozawa led them away. Out of the shrine and to nearby springs.
They returned, fresh and clean, a little damp, but that didn't matter. They were too nervous and excited about seeing Haruhi again, just to make sure she was alive. They needed that proof. To see it with their own eyes. They couldn't relax unless they all were safe.
They were allowed in after that, the only ones in the room were Reiko and Haruhi, the latter was lying on a mat with a blanket over her body. She had a simple white dress on and her belongings were lined up against the wall, covered with mud and grime. Haruhi looked like she had been given a bath and was the cleanest they had seen her in the longest time, all her bandages were new and she looked peaceful. Kyouya crouched down and checked her pulse, carefully avoiding pressing on the angry purple bruises and the bandages. A weak heartbeat, but a heart beat nonetheless. He released a sigh and nodded his head. A collective sigh escaped the others.
Kyouya glanced at Reiko and gestured towards Haruhi, "May I?" he asked, wanting her permission before he checked over her patient. The girl simply nodded.
At first, Kyouya went over to where they kept medical supplies and brought a few things over. He lined them beside him before he began his inspection. He didn't go through his entire life with his family business in medicine without picking up quite a deal about first aid and even advance medical care. It was pushing it to say he could save someone's live, but taking care of scrapes, cuts, bruises were easy. He could stitch someone up and clean wounds easily. It didn't make him squeamish.
The others parked themselves around Haruhi's body, some watching and some talking quietly, not wanting to watch. Takashi sat at Haruhi's head, watching intently.
When Kyouya peeled back her eye bandage, he held in his gasp of surprise. It was infected again. Reiko passed him some alcohol and he poured it over the wound. Something was wrong, and everyone knew it. By this point, Haruhi's eye should've been healed over. So, why wasn't it?
Kyouya and Takashi shared a look, but Kyouya returned to his work. When he was done, Takashi asked to talk to Kyouya alone. They walked outside, a good distance away from the shrine. Silence took them as they stood, under a canopy of trees that protected them from the rain. Kyouya ran a hand through his hair and then cleaned his glasses on his shirt. "Takashi-"
"I know," the older man whispered, "I know."
"What are we going to tell the others?" Kyouya asked, keeping his voice down, "We can't keep them in the dark about this."
The older man was silent for a good few minutes, he rubbed his mouth before releasing a pent up sigh slowly. "We need to make sure what we think is happening is actually happening," he replied, "if it's not then we'll be usually worrying them."
"If it is? Then what?" Kyouya asked, crossing his arms, "How will we deal with it?"
"The way Haruhi did," Takashi replied, a cool looking crossing over his face, hiding the pain and effort it took for him to say those words. Kyouya adjusted his glasses glaring at the man.
"Or she'll deal with it herself," Kyouya spoke up, "If she has a hint of what's happening-"
"If she wakes up," Takashi added on, frowning, he lowered his voice, "We don't have the medical equipment, and she has to be strong enough to fight the sickness and infection by herself."
"She'll be dead before morning," Kyouya whispered, turning his face away from Takashi, "I won't allow her to die."
"I won't either," Takashi gripped Kyouya's shoulder, "Talk to Nekozawa about going back to the pension and retrieving the rest of the medical supplies with the others."
Kyouya nodded, but before Takashi could head back to the shrine, he caught the man's elbow, "What are we planning to do after this?"
"Take back the city," Takashi spoke, darkness in his voice that would've once made Kyouya shudder.
A/N: Hey guys! I have made a schedule on my profile for all my stories that I'm currently working on. Go and check them out so you can see when I'll be uploading the stories (or story) you read!