AN: Septorex101- I'm glad you liked the real ending of my last story, it's nice to see that the epilogue did exactly as it was intended to; make you sad, but also happy. ;)
Thanks to JDUBZ for being an awesome, helpful, and advantageous Beta Reader!
Chapter 2: Infectious
April 27, 2015
2:33am
"AAAAHHHHHHHGG!" Subaru woke up screaming, his arm flailing around trying to fend off a nonexistent attacker. He was drenched in sweat, and breathing heavily. He was shutting his eyes as tight as possible from the pain, but the immeasurable pain he felt not to long ago was gone from his body. Noticing this, Subaru opened his eyes and saw that he was in his room. He wrapped his arms around his body expecting to feel his organs, but only felt his unharmed body. Breathing heavily, he put a hand up to his neck, it was fine.
What the hell? It was a nightmare?
Subaru looked at himself in the mirror above his drawers. He looked fine, he lifted his shirt, expecting at least a scar of some kind, but again found nothing.
He touched his sweaty belly saying in a shaky voice, "This can't be right, I felt it. Th-They torn me apart. It felt too real to be a dream."
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
The sound of thumping from the front door made Subaru freeze. It was the same thumping from his dream, same rhythm, same volume, same everything. It was just a noise, but to Subaru it was a sign. A sign that his dream was connected to the real world somehow.
"Maybe I heard the noise in my sleep and it made its way into my dream?" Subaru said this uncertainly, trying to make sense of his situation. What stumped him was the intense pain he felt when he died in his dream.
Subaru remembered having dreams where he got hurt, but he never felt any pain when it happened, and when he woke up he never did so in a panic, and out of breath.
Whatever that dream meant I-.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Convinced that the noise was only something he heard in his sleep, Subaru walked into the hallway. He checked his parents room to see if they heard his screams. They weren't there.
Subaru looked at their neatly made bed with a stupid expression, "Uhhhhhh….." The bed was untouched, as if his parents never made it home for some reason. He checked his watch.
2:42am
Seeing his parents gone, the time he woke up at, and the sound at the front door, Subaru fearfully thought, Just like in my nightmare.
The feeling of ripped muscle and tissue returned to Subaru's mind, mainly the feeling of his being ripped. The image of the woman at his front door was what he imagined in his head when he heard the thumping.
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
Praying to whatever god was listening, Subaru walked up to the door. He softly placed a hand on the door, leaning on it so he could slowly angle himself to look into the peephole. He had to wipe sweat that dropped into his eyes as he fearfully put his eyes into the peephole.
There was nothing. The porch light shined brightly, lighting up their dark from lawn. Subaru shifted his eyes to look left and right, but his sight to looking in this direction was limited. In the darkness, something shifted in the bushes in front of his house. Subaru's attention was caught by this. He tried press his face further into the door so he could see the figure clearly. Before he could, a body walked in front of the door from the left.
Subaru was startled by the sudden appearance of the figure right in front of his face, falling to the floor with a scream.
From inside, Subaru heard the unmistakeable sound the woman from his nightmare made, "Rrrrraagghhhh…."
Thump! Thump! Thump! Thump!
The figure outside began banging on the door faster and harder upon hearing the scream Subaru made.
This isn't happening. This can't be happening. Subaru slowly crawled towards the door. He placed his hand on it, feeling it shake every time the figure hit it. The thumping of the door was in sync with the thumping of his own heart.
His palms were sweaty as he slide the security bolt into place, the tiny click sounding. It took a little while for Subaru to collect enough courage to stand up and look into the peephole.
Subaru looked through it and saw the woman from his nightmare. He opened his mouth, not believing what he was seeing. From behind the woman, two more figures emerged, the two men. Subaru tried to step back, but his feet were cemented to the floor in fear. This cause him to again fall onto his butt. He used his hands and feet to quickly crawl backwards away from the door.
In his head, Subaru spoke in a whiny sort of voice. My nightmare is coming truuuuue! What the fuuuuuuuck!
He ran to his room and grabbed his phone. The first thing he did was call his parents, but neither answered. Fuckfuckfuckfuck. Again, the thought of ripping flesh returned to him. He cringed at the distant feeling of being bitten into. It felt so real.
Subaru dialed 9-1-1.
"We are sorry, all other lines are currently occupied and must be handled individually. If this is an emergency please do not hang up. An operator will be with your shortly."
Subaru threw his phone across his room, "FUCK!"
2:50am
BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!
Subaru's scream of impatience angered the three people at the front door.
He ran to the door, he arrived just as it began to break. Subaru began to fear that his nightmare may have a premonition of the future. But he didn't want to die the same death he did as in his nightmare. He remembered how ineffective the knife was, even when he slit the throat of the woman. It may have been just a nightmare, but Subaru didn't want to take that chance. He needed another way to deal with them, or escape.
BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!BANG!
The hands of the people outside began to penetrate through the door.
Subaru ran to his parents room and opened their closet. Inside were clothes and other various items.
Subaru began to frantically throw everything out of the closet.
I'm not gonna to die. I'm not gonna to die. I'm not gonna to die. I'm not gonna to die. I'm not gonna to die. I'm not gonna to die. I'm not gonna die. I'm not gonna to die.
The three people broke down the door, running into the house. However, they twitched their head around, but found nothing to chase so they stopped and just walked around the kitchen.
From inside his parent's room, Subaru found his dad's prized possession, a metal bat signed by one of his favorite baseball player. Sorry, dad.
Subaru held the bat, ready to swing, and slowly made his way towards the front door. The splintered wood was scattered across the floor, bits and pieces were coated in blood.
I can't freaking handle this right now. Subaru heard groaning coming from the kitchen. He decided that he would avoid going there.
Subaru walked towards the front door. Perhaps maybe he could ask a neighbor for help and they could do something about the intruders. Subaru took only four steps before he accidentally stepped on a piece of wood from the door, it crunched under his foot. CRAP!
The woman in the kitchen heard the noise. Her head cocked to the side as she exited the kitchen. "Raaaahhhhhhgghhggrrrr."
Subaru stood frozen as the woman walked into view. She turned towards him but didn't look at him. Her cloudy eyes darted around as she threw her arms forward.
She's blind. So she's relying on sound and touch?
This proved his point when the woman slowly approached Subaru, but walked past when he quietly stepped out of her way. The woman stopped in front of Subaru and tilted her head, trying to find him. Subaru got brave and wove his hand in front of her face, she didn't notice.
Subaru slowly and ever so quietly exhaled the breath he had been holding, saying under his breath, "Holy shit."
"RAHHHH!" The breath and whisper was all the woman needed to locate Subaru and lunge at his neck.
Subaru scrambled to react to her sudden attack. He hastily held up the bat so her neck was stopped by it. Subaru kept her at a safe distance as he spun them around and smashed her against the wall. The woman reached for Subaru, her hands grabbing onto his arms. Somehow, the woman was overpowering him, using her strength to pull him closer. In the heat of the moment, Subaru quickly spun around and threw the woman into the opposite wall. She fell to the floor, allowing Subaru to kick her. He didn't want to kill her, just wanted to make sure she stayed down.
The noise he caused was more than enough for the other men to exit the kitchen. They groaned as they heard Subaru and were making a beeline for him. Subaru saw them and swung at the one-armed one. The metal bat connected with his stump and knocked him into the wall.
The bloody one took action and tackled Subaru to the floor, the bat flying out of his hand. Subaru prevented him from biting by pushing on the man's shoulders. The blood from its mouth dripped on Subaru's face, obscuring his vision. The man was snapping at Subaru, his bloody, yellow teeth clashing together over and over. All Subaru could do was push on the man, who was slowly getting closer. The man was stronger than Subaru, making it hard for him to fight off his attacker. In a last attempt to survive, Subaru put his forearm onto the neck of the man and quickly scooted his body to the left while pushing on the man's neck. This resulted on Subaru having enough leverage to shove the man off of him.
The man flailed around on the floor trying to find Subaru. By the time he got up, Subaru was already on the porch, running. However, the one-armed man had already gotten up and heard Subaru running, and chased him. Not long after did the bloody man follow suit with the woman hot on his heels.
"HELP!" Subaru screamed as he ran into the middle of the street. He looked around, every other house was dark, no one came out help him. Seeing the two men approaching fast, Subaru ran across the street, full sprint. He tried to open the front door of the house across, but it of course didn't open. Subaru turned around. The three crazed people were still after him. He waited till the last second to sprint to the side so they crashed into the door. Subaru speedily stepped his way through a large bush so he could go around the house, the people were close behind.
"SOMEBODY HELP!" The fear in his voice was clear as he ran, trying to escape the bloodthirsty psychos who seemingly wanted to tear into his body. Making it to the back of the house, he was more than happy to see that there was a back door..
Oh please oh please oh please.
Without another thought, Subaru opened the door and slammed it shut behind him. He relaxed for just a second, leaning against the door, that was when the three lunatics reached the door and slammed against it.
"RRWWRRAHHHGGGGHHH!"
"AAAAAAGGGGRRRHHHAA!"
One of their hands smashed through the small window in the door and grabbed Subaru's shirt.
"UUUHHHHHH!" Subaru used both his hands to pry the fingers from his shirt. He backed up and looked at the door. It was wooden, but it seemed to be sturdy enough because the two men barely did anything to it as they threw their bodies into it. Feeling relieved, Subaru turned away and inspected the room he was in. It seemed to be the dining room. Upon first glance it appeared normal, a large table with a tablecloth, a small chandelier, a cabinet of china and pretty cups stood in the corner, and chairs stood around the table. However, one of the chairs was tipped over and on the floor. One of its legs looked to be snapped off. I don't think I'm alone.
All across the floor was broken china plates and some sort of white powder. Through the powder, Subaru could clearly see multiple sets of footprints were either walking or running across it multiple times.
Deciding to check the house for others that might help, Subaru called out, "Hello? Anybody in here?!"
Nobody answered.
Subaru pulled out his phone and called the one person he most definitely wanted to make sure was safe.
3:13am
"Huh? Subaru?" Emilia's sweet voice answered the phone. She sounded sleepy and out of it.
"Emilia! Are you alright?" Subaru held the phone close to his mouth, walking through the house, checking for anyone.
Her voice was slow and interrupted with a yawn. "Huhhh? Subaru...what are you talking about? Why wouldn't I be fine?"
Emilia tried her best to listen to Subaru's explanation of men breaking into his house, but all of it went in one ear and went out the other. Her sleep deprived brain was shutting down as she stayed awake. Within a few seconds, Emilia's head went limp and her phone fell out of her hand as she passed out.
Subaru heard the thumping of the phone hitting the floor, "Emilia?...Emilia!?" From the other side of the call, Subaru heard Emilia quiet snoring as she slept. The snoring charmed Subaru, it was one of those little things that made Subaru's heart melt. But Subaru didn't call to here her snore, he tried calling out to her to wake up.
Subaru came across a room thats door was open. He continued to call into the phone, "Emilia. Wake up! Come on, Emili-." Subaru froze upon seeing what was lying on the floor of the room. What he saw made him stop and throw up on the floor.
On the floor was a motionless body. It's belly was ripped open with its organs spilling out. Blood, stomach acid, and other fluids soaking into the carpeted floor as another person was grabbing intestines and stuffing them into it's mouth. Subaru noticed the wooden chair leg stuck in it's chest. The pink flesh mushed and broke between the creature's teeth as it enjoyed the man's delicious taste. As it tore into the man on the floor, it didn't even pay Subaru any attention despite his raised voice and violent vomiting.
When Subaru had finished involuntarily emptying his stomach, he ran to the dining room again. He looked at the back door. The people were still hitting it, the door was beginning to break. Fuck! I have to go!
Subaru had the idea of running out the front door.
Slamming it behind him, Subaru enjoyed the fresh air. He put his back to the door and slid to the ground. He put his hands to his face and started to cry. There were others like this, that he knew from experience. His parents were probably in the middle of all it too, that must be why they were so late and weren't answering the phone.
3:24am
Just in case, Subaru called his parents again, nothing. He tried calling 9-1-1, the phone lines were still all occupied. he had already called Emilia so that wasn't going to work.
Subaru dialed the next number that came to mind.
"Subaru?" Like Emilia's, Rem's voice was also slow and sleepy.
Subaru was happy upon hearing her voice, "Rem! I'm so glad you're alive."
"Subaru, Rem knows you want to flirt, but can't it wait till tomorrow? Rem is sleepy."
Subaru put the phone in front of his face and acted as if it were Rem herself, pointing at it, "I-I-I'm not flirting, Rem! I'm actually trying not to die here!" A loud sound from inside the house told Subaru that the men had broken down the back door. A moment later, they began hitting on the front door when they heard Subaru. "Oh for Christ's sake. Just can't catch a break, can I?"
Rem sounded more wide awake, "Subaru? What was that noise? Are you safe?"
"Yeah, for now, but that's not gonna last long." The banging on the door increased.
Rem sounded worried, "Subaru! Rem and Nee-sama will come to you!"
"No! Don't do that!"
"Why not?"
"It's too dangerous!"
At that moment, Subaru saw someone walk out from the back of one of the houses across from him. And it was looking right at him.
Subaru said only one thing, "Oh...ffffuck."
"Subaru?"
Subaru said quietly into the phone, almost like a whisper. "Stay there, Rem. I'll come to you."
"But what i-." Subaru ended the call and placed the phone into his pocket.
The person across the street was staring at Subaru, breathing rapidly. Subaru slowly got up and began to tiptoe away, but as soon as Subaru moved away, the man started to charge at him.
He heard me?
Subaru was scared shitless, this one was running faster than the other two. When it got closer, Subaru saw that it's eyes were clear and not foggy. This one wasn't blind.
Subaru dodged out of the way as the man swiped at him. With no weapon, Subaru chose to run away.
The man stopped in his tracks to change direction, his bloodshot eyes and grotesque skin visible in a street lamp. It went into a full sprint as it chased Subaru. when it caught up, it lunged onto his back and knocked Subaru down.
Subaru was shocked at the speed of the man and laid on the ground for a moment before throwing an elbow back. It connected with the side of the man's head, knocking him off of Subaru.
Both of them got up at the same time, but before Subaru could run, the man grabbed his shoulders and pulled Subaru towards him, his mouth extended.
The man sunk his teeth into Subaru's neck breaking the skin and spraying blood everywhere. Subaru screamed in pain. Before the man could take out a chunk and eat it, Subaru used his hands to force the man's mouth open. With one hand one on his lower jaw and another on his upper jaw, Subaru used all his strength to pull them as far apart as he could. What surprised Subaru was how easily he torn the lower jaw from the man's face. In his hand was the man's chin and set of teeth.
He immediately threw it to the ground in disgust. He felt like throwing up again, but there was nothing left in his stomach. Subaru looked up to see the man still standing, his tongue hanging down from his skull and blood gushing down the front of his shirt.
Subaru backed up towards the garden of a house and fell to his butt, fear taking over again. The man rushed him, seeing a helpless meal on the floor. Subaru reached next to him and grabbed a rock the size of his fist. When the man lunged towards him Subaru used the rock to knock him away, caving in the side of the man's skull.
When Subaru got up he saw that the man was also getting up despite his jaw missing and head dented. It was on it's knees when Subaru threw his leg as far back as he could and kicked the man as hard as he could in his head. The man fell back and spasmed violently, his brain severely damaged. The man tried to scream, but all that came out were throaty sounds.
Shaking, Subaru shambled away from the man. He tried to put as much distance as he could between himself and the man while putting a hand over his bite wound to stop the flow of blood. His wound burned to the touch, he had to bite his tongue to keep from screaming in pain. I don't...feel right.
In the middle of the street, he feel to his knees. Something was happening to him, but he didn't completely know what. He had an assumption, but was too scared to even think it.
3:37am
On the way to Rem's house, there was evidence that others had gone through the same ordeal that he had. Dead bodies littered some front lawns as he walked by, none moved, but he did see other alive, sane people, he didn't pay them any attention though. No one could help him heal his neck wound.
He tried calling 9-1-1 and the paramedics, but none picked up, it seemed whatever was happening, it was happening almost everywhere.
Bags began to form underneath Subaru's eyes as he continuously tried to stop the bleeding from his neck. He began to notice his skin becoming pale, and he began to feel cold. His only savior would be Rem, her dad was a cop, so surely he would be able to help him. His feet began to drag the closer he got to Rem's house. Subaru couldn't see it himself, but a dark liquid began to form at his bite wound and seep into his veins and arteries, spreading throughout his entire body.
4:11am
Making it to Rem's street, Subaru couldn't help but notice that the past few blocks had been unaffected by this…thing. As if it was either avoiding this place or waiting to come here.
Please be safe.
After a few minutes, Subaru walked up Rem's driveway and made it to her front door.
His vision was cloudy, he was feeling extremely off balance, and he was starting to fade in and out of consciousness, but he still was able to knock on the door. After he did, he put his head on the door and leaned into it.
Please, please, please.
Right before his eyes closed, the door opened and he fell to the floor.
Rem screamed upon seeing a bloody Subaru fall at her feet.
4:21am
Subaru opened his eyes. The ceiling was colored a very light blue. This must be Rem's room. Subaru remembered it from the countless times he spent hanging out with his friend in her room.
"I'm sorry, Rem. He's dead."
Without meaning to, his head turned toward the voice. The pink haired Ram was comforting her younger twin sister, Rem, in her arms. The blue haired Rem was crying into the chest of her older sister as Ram cried as well into the top of her younger sister's head.
"Raaaaaaghhhhh." Subaru wanted to look around for the source, but couldn't, his head wouldn't follow his instructions. Instead, his head stayed planted on Rem and Ram. Subaru found that he couldn't control his whole body; eyes, legs, arms, head, nothing.
Rem and Ram looked up at Subaru.
Rem's face brightened up, "Sister! He's alive!"
Alive? Why wouldn't I be?
Again, Subaru heard the sound he was afraid of, "Raggghhaaarrraaahhhh." Finally, he realized it was him. Subaru tried reaching for Rem and Ram, something he hadn't meant to do.
Subaru noticed his arms. His skin was pale and purple veins were visible underneath the skin. He had turned into one of them and was no longer in control of his own body.
Ram saw the odd behavior and prevented Rem from going to Subaru. "Rem, he doesn't seem…...well. Barusu is usually a barbaric idiot, but this…..is different."
Subaru's body fell to the floor as it reached for Rem and Ram. It got up and approached them.
Ram stepped in front of Rem. "Barusu, don't come any closer." She observed his angry, bloodshot eyes. They were the eyes of someone that wanted to kill.
Subaru tried to fight himself, but there was nothing he could do, he was gone.
Can't...control!
"Raaahhhhhraghhh." Subaru's body only stepped faster towards Ram.
"Barusu!" Ram kicked Subaru in the stomach just as he was swiping at them, but it barely did anything, only knocking him back a few steps.
"Sister!" Rem put her hands to her mouth, shocked.
"Rem, we have to go." Ram grabbed Rem's hand and ran out the door, closing it behind them.
Subaru's body staggered a bit and tried to follow the twins, but a door blocked his way. It was hollow so it only took the crazed Subaru a minute for him alone to rip it open.
Subaru looked around and ran down a short hallway where he saw Rem and Ram.
Ram was currently digging in a drawer, she found a slip of paper with a code on it, and bent down to input it into a safe.
Rem was the closest to Subaru, her hands to her chest as she looked fearfully at Subaru. Her voice was quiet and pleading, it hurt Subaru's heart just hearing her speak like that. "Subaru-kun, please stop this. You're scaring us."
Noooo, stop!
Subaru ran at Rem and tackled her to the ground. She screamed as she fell to the floor. Her eyes were shut as she tried with all her might to push Subaru away from her. He got closer and closer to her innocent face, his teeth itching to sink into her.
Stop it!
Rem opened her eyes to see Subaru's teeth coming closer to her neck. She was frozen in fear, unable to say a word as Subaru got closer.
REM!
"Subaru!"
Subaru stopped to locate the other voice. He turned to his right to see Ram holding what looked to be a pistol to his face.
Ram whispered "Back off."
Instead of doing so, Subaru lunged at her. However, Ram was quick enough to jump out of his reach and shoot the taser at his body. Instantly, he started freezing up, unable to move on his own. However, when the flow of electricity ended, he began his advancement again.
Inside his own body, Subaru tried his hardest to move himself. He willed with all his might to stop himself. To his surprise it seemed to work. Mid stride, Subaru slowed down and came to a stop. He grunted and before regaining control and advancing towards Ram again.
Ram fearfully threw to taser at his face, but it did nothing. She then took out what she'd found in the safe, a pistol. Her hands shaking, she raised the gun and aimed it at Subaru. Subaru was about to lung at Ram when Rem suddenly came in and bear hugged him.
"Subaru, please stop this! Rem doesn't understand why you've chosen to do this, but I do know that this isn't the Subaru we know!" Tears fell from Rem's eyes as she pleaded with Subaru to stop.
Again, Subaru tried desperately to regain control of his body. Hearing Rem cry her heart out at seeing her own sister aim a gun at their best friend broke his own. He didn't want this to go about like it had done to many other people.
"Subaru, stop!" Ram yelled furiously when Subaru grabbed a hold of Rem and pried her off, staring at her as if determining where to bite.
Rem waited in fear, watching Subaru staring at her skin. "S-Subaru darling?"
Inside his body, Subaru fought hard to avoid doing anything. He thought of his parents and how he wanted to find them, he thought of Rem and Ram and all the time they'd spent together. He needed hope, he didn't want to lose it all.
Slowly, Subaru loosened his grip on Rem, but not letting her go. He blinked a couple times before looking to the side and seeing Ram. It seemed he was okay before he suddenly lost control again and began forgot all about Rem as he lunged at Ram.
Ram was unable to bring herself to pull the trigger, frozen in place as Subaru tackled her to the floor. At the same time, the front door was kicked open when a nearby neighbor rushed over because of the commotion. He was able to pry Subaru off of Ram, but didn't expect him to turn around grab a hold of his arm. Before he could think of anything, he felt pain as Subaru tore a chunk of his forearm out.
With a scream of pain, the man grabbed Subaru by the collar and shoved him away. He looked at his arm, nearly throwing up at the sight of his own torn open arm. He looked up just in time to see Subaru lung at him again. Without hesitation, the man uppercut Subaru, sending him flying back with a heavy fall onto his head.
Rem screamed desperately, "Subaru!" Despite Subaru showing he was dangerously hostile, she couldn't bear to watch him being beaten.
The man picked up the gun Ram had dropped.
Ram reached out to the man, wanting to plead with him not to kill Subaru. "NO!!"
Then, to Rem and Ram's horror, they watched as Subaru grabbed the man one last time before a bullet found its way into his skull.
4:25am
AN: The time markers have almost no significance other than to add a realistic view of the story. They do, however, help when Subaru's RBD ability activates and sends him back, that's where you'll be able to tell just how far he went when I put the time maker there. Yeah...sooooo...yeaaaaahhhhh...