Last Rites
Being bitten by a zombie didn't hurt as much as Kei expected it to. She screamed anyway.
The noise seemed to be some kind of trigger, distracting the zombie just enough that when it opened its mouth to moan in her face, she was able to sock it in the jaw hard enough to disorient it. Then, she scrambled past it, along with the conga line about twenty zombies long that had formed behind it. They all moaned and staggered after her like she'd expected, but she knew they had no chance of catching her.
Not that it mattered. She'd already been bitten. Every second she had was borrowed time. She cursed herself for getting backed into a corner so easily, but nothing she did or said could undo what had just happened.
Her first idea was to make it back to the room she shared with her best friend Miki and say goodbye, but that idea, while heartwarming, felt off-the-charts risky. She didn't know how long it would take her to join the undead, but estimates from major news sources before they'd all gone defunct had averaged around eight minutes after being bitten, and it took at least five just to get there. If she turned in front of Miki, the odds of Miki mustering up the will to kill her were slim to none.
Miki had Taroumaru, she had plenty of supplies, and she had more CDs than she'd thought any girl would ever need. Hopefully, she'd survive without her. At least she'd still have Taroumaru to talk to, even if he'd never answer back unless you counted barking.
Kei looked at her arm and gasped. The bite wound was getting worse, beginning to leak blood alongside several other unidentifiable fluids. The mottled green color all zombies shared had already taken to the skin around the wound and was starting to creep up her arm. Her mind was clear for now, but she didn't have long before that changed.
"Have to go," she said to no one. "Can't hurt anyone else."
Thus, she'd chosen her final destination as one she knew would likely remain empty forever, somewhere she'd never see another living soul again.
It was better than the alternative.
The bite wound was still oozing pus and blood. Kei's entire arm was a sickly green and the nasty color kept spreading further by the second. Saliva was pooling in her mouth and she had begun to feel the urge to bite at nothing as the scent of dying flesh intensified. Keeping on task had become a real challenge.
Kei knew she had minutes at best before the infection took hold. All she wanted now was to barricade herself somewhere she wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else. She'd already succeeded in dragging a heavy drawer in front of the bakery's door with her good arm, and with whatever power she had left, she wanted to add to that as much as possible.
Unfortunately, a certain someone was about to throw a wrench into that plan.
A chorus of barking echoed from the far end of the bakery, making Kei's heart stop. Dropping the cans she'd been carrying with a clatter, she dashed to the far end, hoping against hope that Taroumaru hadn't gotten in here.
Hope, however, had no place in an apocalypse. After dashing to the far end of the bakery, she noticed the sound appeared to be coming behind a large, overturned box. There, she found the puppy, who was happily chowing down on the rotting doughnuts and muffins that had been left behind by the bakers when the apocalypse had started. He seemed to be in paradise at the moment, but that didn't matter to Kei. What did matter was that she got him out of there before she turned. Both out of loyalty to the puppy even in her dying moments, and the fact that if Taroumaru was trapped in here, that meant Miki would be alone.
And if Miki was left alone in that cramped storage area with nothing to listen to but her CDs and her thoughts, she was good as dead.
"Taroumaru! Come on, boy! Let's go! Come to Kei!"
A chorus of happy barking followed that statement, but he kept tearing at the food in front of him as Kei stifled the urge to do the same to Taroumaru, her mind starting to swim.
"Taroumaru! Come! Now!"
She'd said that in a voice far angrier than she'd ever addressed him before, feeling horrible as she did so but knowing every second counted. Taroumaru whimpered for a few seconds, but with a look that could only be described as dejected, began to follow Kei.
Assaulted with scents she could neither remember nor recognize, Kei hurried to the other end of the bakery, Taroumaru following her. Grunting with the effort as saliva began to drip out of her mouth, she dragged the shelf back out of the way of the door as the assault on both her nose and mind grew ever stronger, then bent down to open the door, getting a good whiff of Taroumaru on the way down. Struggling to hold herself together for just a little longer, she spoke again. "Taroumaru, go. Find Miki."
Nothing. Taroumaru pressed himself against her, purring. His scent kept getting stronger, Kei's focus fading in and out as the zombie instincts began to overpower her human ones. Slowly, she began to bend down, her mouth flooding with saliva as she leaned in closer, a low moan unconsciously emanating from her… then, one last moment of total clarity.
"Taroumaru, go! Run, before I hurt you! Please!"
Another moan erupted from her, the sickness taking root in her mind. Taroumaru seemed to sense the danger and followed Kei's final orders, barking his head off. Kei's head began to loll as she watched him go, but she saw him disappear around a corner.
More moaning, longer and louder than before. Her hearing began to cloud. Her nose became assaulted with a wave of scents, strong and pungent and indescribable by mere words. Her posture slumped, leaning gently forward. Any thoughts of barricading herself in the bakery were forgotten.
If Kei had maintained her sentience, she likely would have mourned over how she'd failed to accomplish even the simplest of things on her journey to find help, even protecting others from her. Or maybe she'd worry about Taroumaru, hoping he could find his way back to the room she'd once shared with Miki without her guidance.
But she had not. And thus, one thought forced its way to the front of her mind, all others fading away.
"Hungry…"
Kei had joined the shambling masses several weeks ago, and she already fit right in.
She staggered along the sidewalk at a glacial pace, eyes and ears unfocused, clothes ratty and frayed, skin a shade of mottled green, arms hanging limp at her sides. She'd fit right in with most of Japan's former population. Few, living or dead, would notice or care how she looked compared to the rest of the zombies. And even if they did, she wouldn't notice or care anyway.
Now, her thoughts no longer existed, washed away as if the virus coursing through her body had flooded her brain as well. Instead, one word repeated over and over again in a dull, monotone fashion, pressing her mind at the pace of a glacier. "Hungry… hungry… hungry… hungry…"
The area was far more silent than she was used to. Even the moaning that seemed to be everywhere had fallen silent for a time. Nothing was moving nearby, either; Kei was as alone as she'd ever been before.
Then, something shattered that silence.
Voices.
Food.
With lifeless eyes, she unsteadily turned to see the source, her eyes landing on a cherry-red car not too far from where she now stood, several figures moving nearby. With nothing in between her and them, she staggered in that direction, long-held saliva beginning to flow into her mouth. The figures paid her no heed, even as she got closer.
She could almost taste them.
She wanted to taste them.
"Hungry… hungry… hungry…"
Then one of the figures turned to face her, a girl with pink hair and an expression that could turn anyone's frown upside-down. "Guys! I think this one didn't hear my announcement that school's over!"
"Don't worry, Yuki-chan, we'll be fine," another voice said. "It's just one. I can handle one zombie."
Then came the third. The voice that made her pause for a second.
"Either way, we should hurry up. College awaits."
She saw the blond-haired figure before she even looked her way, but even now, she knew her identity. Just like that, a new word joined her mind's demented chanting, even as she kept staggering toward the car, closer and closer to feeding her boundless hunger.
"Miki… hungry… Miki… hungry…"
Then Miki turned her head, her eyes wet with tears.
Miki gasped. Several times. Then she resorted to blinking, as if she'd be able to wipe Kei from her vision if she blinked fast enough.
For Kei, the chanting intensified, two words being drilled through her brain like an ice pick as she drew ever closer to the car. "MIKI… HUNGRY… MIKI… HUNGRY…"
Miki looked panicked. "Let's get out of here. College waits for no one, am I right?"
The pink-haired girl smiled even wider in response. "You're the boss, Mii-kun! Anyone missing anything before we leave?"
"No," one of the other figures said. "Wait, should I deal with that-"
"NO!" Miki shouted this so loud that Kei paused for a second before continuing to shamble forward, another figure clamping her hand over Miki's mouth before appearing to scold her for being so loud. Kei kept advancing, so close she could almost taste all of them.
Once the hand had been removed, Miki resumed talking. "I mean, no. Please don't. We don't need to. Move the car if you need to, but please don't kill her."
One of the other figures said, "Wait, what do you mean, her?" However, Miki didn't answer, instead sliding into the backseat of the car with the pink-haired girl, the other two climbing into the front, all of them slamming their doors just before Kei reached the car. She staggered past the front mirror just as the car started, finally seeing Miki again as she reached the back window, pressing herself against it to try and get closer, teeth gnashing as she tried to bite at the empty air in front of her.
A muffled shout of alarm. She heard Miki shout, "Let's go!"
The car lurched forward then, Kei staggering after it even as it picked up speed, paying no attention to the exhaust. But soon, the car was moving well too fast for her to have any chance of catching it.
But even so, Kei still staggered after it with the same shambling motion, watching the car until it disappeared around the bend. Then, she resumed her mindless staggering in the general direction she'd been going before, but one word remained burned into her brain, even if it died before ever reaching her lips.
"Miki…"