A/N: Thank you for all of the reviews, LuchiaSeirin, Tennu, Puncakegoddess, Harukaze Sora, XxSillyKittyxX, CureNoble0, The Magnetic Witch, Sarekkandarikulove, Riddikuluss, EminaRukiax, Talltree-san, Kurariisu Takomo, Moonpuzzle, SeaShel, and 27aquarrow72! =)
Warning: Gore and violence.
Disclaimer: I do not own Kuroko no Basuke or Apocalypse no Toride
Chapter 10
Teiko Academy
After the eight teens had paid their respects, they knew that they couldn't hide anything from the rest of the inmates. Not only was the cafeteria a mess of blood and guts, but eleven people suddenly going missing..was definitely suspicious. They decided to head to the infirmary to patch everyone's wounds up from the fight. After a brief discussion of who best to discuss the matter, they decided on Akashi, Midorima and Kuroko. The three went to the director's office to explain everything to Hanamiya, while the rest of them waited in their room to rest until they got word from Akashi.
"So..What you're telling me is that eleven people are dead now, because a zombie..Alex, was it?" They nodded. "Alex supposedly wandered into the exact room where you all were getting attacked, and then she slaughtered everyone except you and your friends. Did I understand correctly, Seijuro?" Akashi nodded, eye twitching.
"Yes, Makoto. That's correct."
"Ahh, I see, I see..." Hanamiya muttered, putting a hand on his chin in thought. Midorima and Akashi were getting annoyed at the black-haired teens actions and when it came clear that he wasn't going to explain himself anytime soon, Akashi asked.
"Makoto...Tell me... why do you have Tetsuya on your lap..." An un-pleased Kuroko was being held firmly on the others lap. He was placed there shortly after they had arrived and was getting very annoyed, but kept his expression neutral. When Akashi mentioned the bluenette, Hanamiya removed his hand from his chin and continued to pet the blue locks as he'd been doing before.
"Ah...Don't worry about that, Seijuro. I'm sure he doesn't mind. Right, Tetsuya-kun?" Hanamiya had a wide grin on his face as he continued to rub the soft hair. Kuroko just sighed, knowing the other wouldn't let go even if he complained, and with his soreness from the beating he got early, he knew struggling would only hurt himself.
"Anyway, enough side tracking, back to business. Where was I...oh yes. You really don't expect me to believe a bullshit story like that, do you Seijuro..?" Hanamiya's voice was deadly cold and expression dark.
"It's merely a fact, Makoto. We don't care if you believe they attacked us first or not. We came to tell you of the event that happened and if you choose to refuse our explanation, then we have no more reason to stay."
"Ah, no. I believe that they attacked you, everyone knows how Shougo felt about you all in cell 4. And I know you're not stupid enough to start a fight when you only just got accepted back here. The thing I don't believe is that you're telling me that Shougo, the same guy that killed at least five of those undead at once only a day ago, couldn't handle one lonesome zombie on his own. Not only that, but the other ten who were with him had definitely encountered and defeated zombies before and yet they too were slaughtered..?" He paused. "Oh, and not to mention that not even one person was turned during the incident. I suggest you all stop your little act and tell me what you're hiding." He glared darkly at the two teens standing on the other side of the desk, across from him.
Kuroko felt a shiver go up his spine at the deadly aura surrounding the teen and had been so observant about the holes in their story. Midorima and Akashi both glanced at each other silently discussing something, and Akashi nodded.
"I suppose we have no choice but to tell you, Hanamiya." Midorima said. "It would be easier to show you, so how about we go on a little walk and we'll answer your questions on the way."
Hanamiya was dubious about going along with their idea, but seeing the serious faces of all three of them, he knew whatever they were hiding would be worth it. So he reluctantly released the bluenette and stood with a sigh.
"Alright, lead the way." Akashi nodded and they headed out of the office and towards the stairwell.
"Where are we going, Seijuro?" Hanamiya was beginning to get suspicious when he saw that they were going towards the area of the facility that no one really visited anymore.
"We're going to the solitary confinement rooms on the third floor." Akashi said, vaguely. The black-haired teen narrowed his eyes when he received such little information.
"I'm not in the mood for games. Tell me now, or are you all just trying to avoid telling me what really happened in the cafeteria?! If that's the case, then I won't hesitate to punish you all accordingly." Akashi, seeing that Hanamiya was quickly losing interest in playing along with them, decided to tell him about the man.
"A few days ago when we stole the car and went to the city, we saw a being that wasn't like any zombie we've seen before. He was sitting atop a mountain of undead, and they weren't attacking him. It had almost seemed like...they were completely loyal to him." Akashi explained. "Tetsuya shot him, but then, on our trip to the base, we ran into him again and he had absolutely no trace of the gunshot on him. Not only that, but this time we ran into him he seemed to have an ability similar to..What was the name you thought of, Shintaro?" Midorima who had been silently listening, answered.
"Bokor." Hanamiya raised an eyebrow.
"A Bokor..? What's that?" He was knowledgeable in a lot of things, but this didn't ring a bell to him.
"So, even the genius Hanamiya doesn't know everything..?" When the other glared, Midorima pushed up his glasses and continued. "Bokor's, are religious people who practiced the art of voodoo. They were suspected of using black magic, because everyone who went against them somehow ended up seriously deformed, and then they'd follow their commands."
"And you're saying that you have someone who can use magic, trapped in solitary confinement ..?" Hanamiya was definitely not impressed by the explanation. He wondered how Midorima even thought of all of this...Then again he remembered from when the green-haired teen first arrived at the reformatory, he had believed in weirder things than magic.
"Not exactly magic..from what we've seen it uses a certain sound to manipulate the zombies." They were almost at the solitary confinement rooms so he decided to hurry with the explanation so they could show him when they arrived. "His lungs can inflate at an unbelievable rate, but sadly we can't show you, because if we were to remove the pen from his lungs, he would be able to send out the necessary sounds to control the undead outside. So, don't remove it no matter what." Hanamiya still looked skeptical.
"Please, Hanamiya-san." He looked down at the bluenette who he had almost forgotten was there. "What Midorima-kun and Akashi-kun are saying is true. We wouldn't lie about something like this." Hanamiya stared at the boy for a moment, and knew he could trust him. If he learned anything from their meetings, the bluenette was honest and straight-forward, so he nodded and when they finally stopped he looked inside of the cell they were in front of. It was too dark to see anything clearly, but there was definitely someone inside of the room.
Midorima went in first followed by Akashi, Kuroko and then Hanamiya.
When the black-haired teen stepped into the room, he felt a shiver go up his spine. This person.. he didn't feel right. There was something about him that made Hanamiya realized that he definitely wasn't human. Curious, he walked further inside and got a better look.
The man in the center of the room had an almost stark white complexion, but from the difference in tones of the hair and skin, he could tell that the persons long hair was definitely shades lighter than the skin. It had a heavy amount of tape placed over its mouth, making it look almost like a muzzle, and it's legs wrapped in the same material. He only had on a straight jacket. But the thing that really creeped even Hanamiya out, were the eyes that were wide open showing off three pupils in those eyes that were focused on the bluenette for some reason. He suddenly knew why they had insisted on showing him rather than just telling..if he hadn't seen this, then he definitely wouldn't have been able to believe it.
"Tetsuya, give Makoto the camcorder." Kuroko pulled out the electronic that Akashi had handed him before they left their room earlier, and handed it to Hanamiya who looked at it with a brow raised.
"We are going to conduct an experiment to prove our theories. By recording all of this, we can have proof and tell everyone in the reformatory of what is happening to this world." Akashi explained. Hanamiya nodded, knowing that there was no way someone would believe their story was true unless there was proof. He opened the device and turned it on.
"Be sure to record everything, Makoto."
"Yeah, yeah. I got it." He didn't like being bossed around, but he'd let it go in this situation.
"Alright, we'll do the external inspection now." Midorima and Akashi put on surgical gloves and moved towards the unresponsive man on the floor.
"Get a close up of his eyes." Hanamiya pointed the camcorder at the mans face, while Akashi held the mans eyes open, to show off the three pupils that the man had.
"The subject has three pupils, even though he shows no evidence of being an insect. No genitals are present, meaning he doesn't need nutrients to survive."
Hanamiya held the tape recorder while the other two inspected every aspect of the bound mans body. Kuroko stood off to the side and looked away, feeling uncomfortable being here. The way they were all inspecting the mans body was..so violating. And seeing how the man just laid there as if it didn't matter at all, made him worry even more.
"What's this mark..?" Midorima's voice made him look back at them. It was strange that he had a scar, since the man had healed himself so well that not even the gunshot wound could be seen.
"It looks like..a surgical scar." Akashi commented, staring at the mark on the man's abdomen. Curious, he proceeded to cut more of the straight jacket, but not enough to release the mans arms. "And these raised marks... Wasn't there some vaccine that left the same wounds a few years ago..?"
"Yes, BCG, Bacillus Calmette-Guerin... But that would mean..." He trailed off and Kuroko watched as the other three in the room realized something. He looked at them, but they must have forgotten that he was there, so he spoke up.
"What's that mean, Akashi-kun?" They looked at the bluenette for a moment.
"It means, that he was once human...Maybe even recently."
'He..was human..? What happened to him..?'
"Well, he's definitely not now..." Hanamiya said, recording the scars they found.
"Let's test the regeneration rate.." Midorima said, Akashi nodded and pulled a knife out. Putting small cuts on the mans legs and they all watched with wide-eyes as it healed almost instantly.
"Amazing.." Hanamiya said, focusing the camera closer. Midorima nodded in agreement.
Kuroko looked at Akashi and saw him sitting there with the knife held tightly in his hands, looking at the man with a look that the bluenette couldn't decipher. Slowly, the red-head made larger and larger cuts, and before they realized it, he got out of control with the experimentation.
Akashi plunged the knife deep with the mans chest and then proceeded to drag it down until his mid stomach. Kuroko looked away as he saw the blood gushing from the wound that his friend had made. He could hear the muffled grunts of pain that the man was making as Akashi cut into him over and over. And the look in the red-head's eyes as he did this..such hatred and loathing could be seen. Kuroko could see that there was more to this than discovery and tests.. something was bothering him...
'Th-This isn't right..Even if he's not human anymore, this is just too cruel...' He couldn't take it anymore...He knew that if he didn't stop Akashi, then he would keep up the violent action.
"A-Akashi..-kun." Kuroko spoke up, slowly putting a hand on the red-haired teen's shoulder. "Please, stop..."
Akashi looked up from his dissecting to look at the bluenette. He was pale and looked sick to his stomach. After seeing how shaken the boy looked, Akashi reluctantly stopped, dropping the knife, hands and clothes covered in blood. Looking at Midorima and Hanamiya, he knew that he had definitely lost his control, since they too looked uncomfortable by what they saw.
"Okay, that's enough. Turn the recording off, Makoto." Akashi slowly composed himself, but Kuroko could still see something in his eyes. "Makoto, gather everyone in the audio room. We will show the video immediately." With that, the red-head left the cell, leaving the three to look at the bloody mess on the floor.
"Ahh.. What a mess..." Hanamiya said, turning off the camera and heading out.
"Come, Kuroko. Let's go get everyone." Seeing the bluenette's hesitation, Midorima sighed. "He'll be alright, just leave him alone for a little." The green-haired teen walked to the gate of the cell and waited for Kuroko to follow.
"I-I'm sorry..." Kuroko said quietly, bowing to the tortured man, feeling guilty that he had went through so much pain. He hurried to Midorima, who closed and locked the cell, before they both went to tell everyone about the meeting.
Teiko Academy: Audio Room
The audio room was full of rowdy delinquents, who were starting to get impatient. Kuroko and his friends were all there, but Akashi hadn't come yet, so they all had to wait. The most annoyed ones were Hanamiya's group. They hated waiting, especially if it was for someone who had called the meeting in the first place!
"Why are we all here, Hanamiya-san?" Kazuya asked, looking at the dozens of inmates who were present.
"There's..an important matter to discuss..." Hiroshi felt something was off with their leader. He looked worried...
'What could've happened..?'
The door of the room opened, and Akashi walked in, free of the blood that was on him before and looking more like himself, but Kuroko still noticed something was off.
"It's about time, Akashi!" Hiroshi yelled.
"Where were you, Seijuro?" Hanamiya asked, eyes narrowed.
"I had to take care of some things." Akashi said, not really answering their question. "Shintaro, go explain everything." Midorima looked at Akashi, confused since they had planned for the red-head to explain everything. But the glare he received made him go with no fuss.
"What we're about to show you, may very well change your view of the world. I'll play the video now, and answer any moronic questions you have afterwards." Before they could complain about what he said, he turned on the video and Hanamiya turned off the lights. All of them stared at the screen.
"Be sure to record everything."
"Yeah, yeah. I got it."
"Alright, we'll do the external inspection now..."
Akashi looked at the video with a blank face, before sighing and getting up from his seat, leaving the room. Kuroko, seeing the red-head leave the room quietly, decided to join him, unable to keep watching the video playing. He wanted to know what was wrong with him. He had looked zoned out since he left the solitary confinement cell after the tests. He closed the door behind him softly, and approached the red-head who was leaning against the wall next to the door.
"Are you okay, Akashi-kun?" Akashi hadn't noticed the bluenette had followed him. From the others tone, the red-head knew he was just asking that to give him a chance at explaining himself, since Kuroko already knew something was wrong with him.
"Forget about it, about the way I acted upstairs, it was irresponsible. I'm sorry you had to witness something like that." Akashi thought back to how sickened the blue-haired boy had looked. "It's obvious you were afraid, so why are you here, Tetsuya?"
"What Akashi-kun did...it's true it scared me. But, it only happened because I didn't realize Akashi-kun was hurting. I'm sorry for not noticing before...Please, Akashi-kun. You shouldn't hide your feelings all the time. Sometimes..it's better to let it out." Kuroko may not be the most emotional person, but when he genuinely felt something, he tried his best to show it.
"Showing unnecessary emotions is a weakness. In a matter of life and death, it only gets you killed, Tetsuya." His father had drilled it into him since he was a kid and yet...He remembered how he felt when that zombie was about to attack him ..how he made a mistake of listening to his emotions, to the fear of dying. If Shougo hadn't...
'Yes, if Shougo hadn't been there, then those emotions would've definitely killed me.'
"I'm sorry, Akashi-kun. But I can't accept that answer." Kuroko replied honestly.
"What..?" He wasn't used to someone just blatantly dismissing his words.
"Acting on your feelings isn't weak. It shows just how much someon-." Akashi cut him off, not wanting to hear anymore of this nonsense.
"It is a weakness. That idiot was always running around and saying anything he pleased! Even today he did something stupid just because he felt like it! And now he's dead!" Kuroko stared at the red-head who had a fierce look in his eyes.
"Akashi-kun, is this.. about Haizaki-san..?" It was barely noticeable, but Kuroko saw Akashi freeze, before covering it up and replacing the usual stern face.
"Shougo has nothing to do with this." The bluenette gave him a sad look.
"...By saying that feelings are useless.. It's the same as saying Haizaki-san died for nothing, Akashi-kun."
"What are you talking about, Tetsuya? He died because of stupidity. He shouldn't have done it and he paid for it."
"No, Akashi-kun. He wanted to protect someone he looked up to. He wanted to help you, Akashi-kun. And to say that it meant nothing to save your life, then it's not only cruel to Haizaki-san, but also to you." Akashi only stared at the bluenette, at a loss of words. "He willingly helped you, his own choice. It wasn't your fault, Akashi-kun. You shouldn't blame yourself. After all," Kuroko reached for Akashi's hand and gave the red-head a soft smile. "you may not notice it, but Akashi-kun has been protecting everyone from the start. You're strong and handle everything so rationally. It's why I look up to Akashi-kun."
Akashi could feel it draining away, all the self hate he had in him all day was slowly leaving him. He stared at Kuroko wondering how this weak person could say such strong things to him. Most people just dismissed his actions, let him do as he wished and they obeyed, but Kuroko.. he had disobeyed him many times since they met... Something he wasn't used to. He was changing all of them..he noticed it when the usually selfish blonde had been ready to run straight into a mob of zombies with no real weapon, just to protect their blue-haired friend.
'What is this kid doing to us..?' As he looked down into those blue eyes, he knew that it wasn't what he was doing to them, but for them.
"I..I'm sorry, Akashi-kun." He looked at the red-head with sorrowful eyes. He had hoped talking to him would help, but from the silence he received, he thought it hadn't helped. But he wouldn't give up, he'd try again later to get Akashi to feel better. "L-Let's go back inside..? It sounds like the video's over." Seeing that the bluenette was about to go back inside of the room, Akashi slammed his hand on the wall, cutting Kuroko off from leaving.
Kuroko, startled by the hand that was blocking his way, looked at Akashi with a questioning gaze, expecting the other to be angry at him, but when he looked at him, he saw the red-head had an unreadable expression on his face, seeing him raise his hand.
'Maybe I said too much..?' He closed his eyes and waited for the hit he expected to come. But what he felt wasn't a fist, an arm was wrapped around his waist and a hand behind his head. He opened his eyes, confused, and found himself looking into the red-gold eyes of his friend as lips made contact with his own.
Kuroko was reminded of when Kise had kissed him, but he noticed how different it was when the red-head pinched him on his side, making him gasp. When he opened his mouth, he felt something entering and froze when he realized it was Akashi's tongue. It was so different..and yet the same. Kise's and Akashi's kisses both held such meaning behind them, and he was surprised that he could feel such similar emotions that two completely different people had for him.
It lasted for a while and only when Akashi pulled away did Kuroko feel the effects from the lack of oxygen. He breathed in, trying to refill his lungs. When he recovered, he looked at the red-head who had a smug smirk on his face. Kuroko felt his cheeks heating up, from what just happened and the fact that the other was smiling when he had almost died from oxygen deprivation...But, it was better than that . He could see it in his eyes, they were calmer now and he knew that he'd be alright.
"So, are you coming, Tetsuya?" He hadn't noticed that Akashi had walked to the door and was holding it open for him. He slowly nodded and walked inside with him, still thoroughly embarrassed. No one noticed them enter because there were shouts of anger and chaos.
"What do you mean?! You expect us to believe that some guy can control zombie's?!"
"And that the human race is going to be wiped out for a superior species?!"
"How in the world are those brain-dead zombies superior, huh?!"
The whole group couldn't believe how ridiculous it sounded, but at the same time it made sense. Why else was all of this happening..? People getting diseased, mutating into dogs, and that man they had seen in the video... There really was no other explanation for it...
"Whether you believe it or not, it's happening and we will be doomed eventually." Midorima said, coldly.
"Now, you all can either wallow in self-pity until they come and kill you, or we can stand together and try to defeat them for as long as we can!" Hanamiya shouted, effectively stopping the murmers. They looked at their director, seeing his intense expression and they decided. They responded to his words with determined faces and shouts.
"Do ya believe any of the bull they were saying, Kawahara?" A teen with short brown-hair asked.
"Not a word, Fukuda. They're definitely lying..." The teen with the shaved head answered. Kawahara couldn't believe they expected them to believe that nonsense.
'A man controlling zombies...Human race extinct..?! Pff, yeah right.'
"I am curious though.. Think there really is a man up in solitary?"
"No way, probably some girl they brought back and they don't want anyone to find her."
"A girl, huh? Let's go check it out." They both went to the stairwell and to the third floor. They went to the solitary confinement cells and looked inside each of them until they found one with a figure in it. They smirked at each other and went inside.
The man had been wrapped back up in the cloth, so all they saw was long hair and assumed it was indeed a girl. With this evidence they decided that they all were lying about the situation.
"Hey, you okay?" The man kept his eyes closed.
"She can't answer you, idiot. There's tape on her mouth."
"Ahh shut it! I was going to remove it..." He hadn't been thinking of it at the time, but he didn't want to seem stupid. He pulled the tape off of the figures mouth and once it was all away, they shared disappointed looks. Seeing the chiseled jaw and Adam's apple.
"It's a man?!"
"Maybe it's a masculine looking woman..?"
"Could be..." They started removing the straight jacket, focusing on revealing the chest, not noticing the man's lips curve into a smile, eyes still closed. As they removed the cloth, the pen that was in the persons side got pulled out with it. When the jacket was completely off, they sighed in disappointment, not seeing what they had wanted to.
"Ahh, what weirdos! Keeping a man tied up." They kicked the cloth away and left the cell. When they were gone, the man let out a soft laugh and opened his three pupiled eyes.
"Tetsu..ya..."
The nine teens were walking down the hallway. Hanamiya decided to go with them, since the director's office was on the way.
Kuroko, stared straight forward, avoiding looking at Akashi since the red-head kept sending him weird looks. Kagami noticed the awkwardness between the two and spoke up.
"What's the matter, Kuroko?" Staring down at the bluenette he narrowed his eyes when blue eyes flickered to the heterochromatic ones before looking away.
"Ah, it's nothing, Kagami-kun..." Kagami just got more suspicious...
"Come on, Tetsu-chan, you can tell us." Himuro encouraged. He too had noticed the way the blue-haired boy tried to keep staring straight ahead.
'I don't want to inconvenience Akashi-kun by saying that he ki-'
"I kissed him." Akashi said, with a smirk. Kuroko's eye twitched, but stayed emotionless.
"You what?!" Everyone shouted, and the sound of chips being eaten, stopped.
"Do not make me repeat myself." The red-head said, glaring at them all.
"When?! Is this true, Kurokocchi/ Tetsu/ Kuroko/ Tetsu-chan/ Kuro-chin?!" Kuroko stayed silent and simply continued walking forward.
Aomine was upset that not only had Kise beaten him to it, but now Akashi as well?!
"Akashi, you..!" He was interrupted when there was suddenly a loud banging noise, shaking the building.
"W-What was that?" Kuroko asked.
"Sounds like something slammed into the building.." They looked out of the window and froze. There were hundreds of zombies running on the once empty courtyard, outside. And.. the familiar mountain of undead, but the man was nowhere to be seen. When they saw all of this, they knew it was bad.
"Get those bullets, Seijuro! Meet me in the office." Hanamiya yelled, running to the office to grab the guns. They all ran to the place they hid the bullets at, dodging panicked teens who were running and trying to find somewhere safe before the zombies entered the building.
Once they arrived at the storage area, they grabbed as much as they could and ran towards the office. They carried the ammunition to the office to fill all the guns.
"If you had all just given me the bullets and the guns when you came back, this would've been quicker." He glared at the group, loading up the guns as he did.
"This isn't the time to point fingers, Hanamiya..." Each of them grabbed a rifle, and carted the others downstairs for the other inmates to have some. They found a group of them in a classroom, panicking at what they were seeing outside.
"Wh-Why are they so fast?! Th-They were never that fast before!"
"We're going to die...They were right..." A teen who was rocking back and forth in the corner said. They had explained what to expect, but after seeing the zombies move and attack so fast, they were starting to doubt that they could do anything against them.
"Listen!" Akashi yelled, making the teens stop. "All of you grab a gun and fight if you don't want to die." When they only looked at the guns in shock he glared at them. "Now."
They all grabbed a gun feeling better now that they at least had something to defend themselves with. Outside, a group of zombies were climbing up the walls of the building and jumped into the room through the windows. As the zombies poured in, they immediately opened fire, shooting as many as they could.
"I'll go to the third floor, Akashi." Midorima said, wanting to see just how bad the situation was. Akashi nodded, shooting another zombie that was heading towards them. The green-haired teen cautiously exited the room, gun raised as he ran towards the stairwell.
They stayed in the room, helping the other teens who were inside. There were a few casualties from the people who were closest to the windows as the zombies came into the room in larger numbers. When a stray bullet hit the wall instead of the zombies, they looked at the person who shot it. Seeing the bluenette with the gun raised, and staring at it with disdain, they knew it had to of been him.
"Kurokocchi..." Kise said in amusement when he saw the boy aim the gun and miss yet another zombie, hitting the wall again. Kuroko pouted and decided not to waste anymore bullets... Seeing the boy's pout, Kise grinned. "Don't worry Kurokocchi! I'll protect you!"
He was interrupted when Aomine once again saved him, by shooting at a zombie that had been behind the blonde.
"Worry about saving yourself first, Kise." Aomine said, eyes narrowed. "Come on,Tetsu. I'll be the one to protect you since Kise seems incompetent." Kuroko sighed, they were arguing when the situation was this bad..?
"Tch, there's a lot of them coming into this area." Hanamiya said, shooting another that was behind Akashi. "We should go somewhere else, this place will be overrun with them soon." Akashi nodded in agreement. They backed out of the room shooting the zombies that came at them, the other teens followed suit and exited the room as well.
"Where are we going, Aka-chin?" Murasakibara asked.
"Solitary. Shintaro is up there." He explained.
"Are you alright, Tetsu-chan?" Himuro asked, noticing the bluenette was panting.
"I'm fine, Himuro-san, thank you for your concern." In truth, he was still sore from earlier and all this running was making it worse.
"I can carry you, Kuro-chin~."
"Thank you for the offer, Murasakibara-kun. But, I'm fine." He responded. The giant pouted childishly, but let the matter drop for now.
They rushed up the stairs and down the hallway to the cell that the man was being kept in. When they got there, they saw dozens of undead trying to reach inside of the cell. They aimed and shot all of them in the head before approaching the bars.
"Took you all long enough. Not that I needed your help, I just ran out of bullets." Midorima said, opening the gate door and giving them an unimpressed look. Akashi handed him some extra ammunition and he reloaded the gun.
"Yeah, yeah." Aomine said, upset that the other didn't even thank them for assisting him.
"So, he escaped..." Akashi said. He was inside of the room looking at the ripped straight jacket and the abandoned pen on the floor. "and he has full use of his lungs now..."
'How was he able to..?'
They all looked at each other, things were worse than they had thought. If they didn't hurry, the whole reformatory could be overrun in minutes.
"We need to find that thing and kill it." Aomine said. Eyes narrowing at the green and red-haired teens who brought the thing here alive in the first place.
"Fine..." Saving man-kind didn't matter if there were no more people around to save, and if they didn't stop that guy then everyone would most likely be wiped out. They nodded and exited the cell.
"We should check areas that have more zombies, it could be a sign that he's near." Akashi suggested.
As they walked down the hall, trying to think of a plan, Kuroko couldn't help but feel like he was being watched..it was a weird feeling. He turned his head and froze.
"Oh, sorry Kuroko." Kagami said when he accidentally bumped into the bluenette, who he hadn't noticed stopped walking. When he saw the look on Kuroko's face, he looked where he was staring.
"He's here..." They stopped walking and looked out the third floor window, seeing the smiling man outside of it, standing on a tower of zombies. They watched as the Bokor's lungs inflated, Akashi, being closer than Hanamiya was and seeing what would happen, went to protect Kuroko.
The glass of the windows shattered, all of them noticed that this time he had used much more pressure than usual, when the pain was much worse than it had been in the van. They collapsed on the ground.
The Bokor slowly stepped inside of the building, paying no attention to the broken glass at his feet, and headed straight for the bluenette. Seeing him laying next to the red-haired teen, eyes closed, he smiled.
"Tetsu..ya..."
Hearing the Bokor's footsteps stop, Kuroko opened one of his eyes and saw that he wasn't that far away. He slowly raised the gun in his hand and aimed. The man was confused about why his sound hadn't worked, but he saw that the person who Kuroko was laying on, had covered the bluenette's ears before the sound reached them.
Kuroko gave the man a sad smile, feeling sorry for what he was about to do, but knowing it had to be done. He squeezed the trigger and watched in shock as the top half of the Bokor's face was blown off from the close impact. The body fell to the ground, blood pooling around it. He hadn't expected a gun to be that powerful...
After a moment, they all shakily stood, and looked at the thing. Aomine went to kick the body, to be sure. When it didn't even move a muscle he let out a sigh. Looking outside they also noticed that the mountains of undead had collapsed, and their speeds returned to normal.
"Ah..I should've ran more tests when I had the chance..." Midorima sighed. They all gave him a look.
"You finally hit one of them in the head, Kurokocchi!" Kise exclaimed, ruffling the bluenette's hair.
'Only because he was so close...'
"All we have to do now, is get rid of all the ones that got inside of the gates..." Hanamiya said, still recovering from the sound, since it was his first time experiencing it.
"Don't use your guns to get rid of them, we need to conserve ammo since we wasted so much already." Akashi ordered as they walked down the hall.
As they were walking away, Kuroko heard a cracking noise behind them and stopped to turn around. When he saw nothing, he was about to resume walking, but stopped when he felt something grab his ankle and pull, making him lose his balance. Arms lifted him up and encircled him, pinning his arms to his sides so he couldn't escape.
The group turned around, hearing footsteps against the hard tiled flooring, and saw the fully healed Bokor running away with the bluenette.
"How is he still alive?! Kurokocchi shot it's brain!"
"We may have to destroy the brain stem." Akashi said. "Shintaro, shoot him so he can't run."
Midorima raised his gun, aiming for the Bokor's left leg and pulled the trigger. The man stumbled when he felt the bullet hit his thigh, and dropped the boy as he fell. He walked towards Kuroko, wanting to keep trying to go through with its plan, but the other teens were too close.
"Tetsu!" He heard Aomine yell. The Bokor had heard the voice too, and he looked down at the bluenette, who was stunned from hitting the hard floor when they fell. He opened his mouth and spoke in a sad voice.
"I'm..sorry..Tetsu..ya..." The man said, before lunging for the teens neck. He hadn't wanted to hurt the boy, but.. he was running out of time. Kuroko, seeing this, raised his arm to fend off the attack, a second later a blade chopped the head off of the man in front of him. They watched at the mans body fell to the ground, head rolling away.
"That guy was speedy.." Kagami said, panting from all the running they did.
"Seriously..being able to heal that fast..." Midorima lowered the gun, seeing the head was completely severed from the body.
"You okay, Kuro-ch-?" Murasakibara cut himself off when he saw the bluenette on the ground holding the hand he had raised to stop the attack from the man. When the purple-haired teen stopped talking mid-sentence, they all turned to what he was looking at and froze.
Kuroko's left pinky and part of his hand..was bitten off...
"St-Stitches!" Kise shouted. "We have to stop the bleeding!" He looked around and saw the solemn looks of everyone else present.
"Midorimacchi! You're good at doctor stuff, right? You can patch Kurokocchi up!" Midorima looked away with a forlorn expression, angry at himself for not being to take down the Bokor in time...
"We should..take into consideration, that he may be infected..." Akashi said, looking down sadly. He couldn't believe this..less than an hour after they had...
"No way..." Kise's face full of disbelief. "There's no way Kurokocchi could..."
They all looked at Kuroko's bleeding hand.
"Wh-What are you all talking about..?" Kagami couldn't believe this. He had only met the bluenette the other day and he was going to...No there's no way...Not again, especially so soon after Himuro had gotten over Alex.
'I'm going to..turn into one of them...' He clutched his bleeding hand to his chest, slowly standing up. When he looked up, he saw all of his friends looking at him, all with strange looks in their eyes.
"Tetsu..." Kuroko looked up at him when his tanned friend spoke. He saw Aomine's grip on the knife in his hand tighten, and for the first time since he met them weeks ago, he felt fearful of them. In his mind he knew that it would be better to just end it now..but his body didn't listen. Kuroko shook his head, backing away, trying to deny that he had been bitten.
"I-I.." When his eyes settled on Midorima who had his gun strapped around his shoulder, he remembered that first day they found out about zombies. The way he shot that teen who had gotten bit without hesitation.
As they came closer, the bluenette turned and ran as fast as he could down the hallway, so abruptly that they all hesitated before trying to catch up with him. As he ran by many inmates who were killing off zombies, no one noticed the blue-haired boy running for his life, clutching his hand to his blood soaking his shirt. He couldn't help but put himself in the zombies position as he ran pass dozens of dead ones. When he looked behind him, not seeing his friends chasing him anymore.
He couldn't have run for more than a minute when he felt tired...so tired. He slowed down to a walk, before stopping, and looking around. He saw that he had unconsciously made his way to their cell. Seeing the 'Cell 4' plate on the door. Momentarily forgetting the ordeal, he stepped inside, hoping to sleep. But when he opened the door and saw all of his friends there waiting for him, he froze, remembering why he had run in the first place.
He turned to leave, but they grabbed him, pulling him back into the room, and pushed his back to the floor. He saw Kagami and Murasakibara holding down his arms and Aomine straddled his waist, effectively trapping him there. He couldn't move an inch...
'No, I-I don't want...' They all winced when they saw the teary eyes looking up at them pleadingly. When Kuroko's eyes landing on Himuro determined face , he remembered.. remembered Alex. As Kuroko felt the stinging of the bite wound, he stopped struggling. The reality of this situation sinking in. If they didn't end it now he'd turn into one of those monsters outside.
'Yes, this is for the best...I can meet my parents...Chihiro...and I won't hurt anyone...' Despite the comfort, the blue-haired teen felt his eyes stinging. He'd miss all of his friends.
Kuroko watched as Aomine raised the knife above his head, dark blue eyes filled with regret and sadness, and he knew that he'd be missed as well.
"Thank you..." The bluenette gave them the brightest smile they had ever seen, even the tears that cascaded down his pale cheeks didn't dim the effect of the smile. The faces of the other occupants in the room were sullen when they saw their friend's expression and looked away, unable to watch.
"I-I'm sorry, Tetsu..."
Aomine brought down the knife, looking at Kuroko's smiling face.
The wooden floors of their cell was stained red as blood splattered across it.
