Izaya stared at the medic for some time. Of all the possibilities, all the causes for the outbreak that it could have been, all those scenarios…...

A much louder groan followed by a heavy thud outside the room caused him to jump slightly. Izaya blinked and turned his attention to the door, ensuring the heavy shelving held. He knew they couldn't stay in here forever. Izaya slid off the table and took his gun with him as he searched the room. Izaya glanced at the soldier and could see a rucksack slung over the man's shoulder. No chance of him just handing that over.

Izaya had always considered himself an excellent tactician. Izaya fought his battles mentally. His sharp intellect held significant advantages over those who barely spared a thought before their actions. A grin replaced his blank expression for a moment because there were plenty of people he knew who reacted blindly, and in this chaos, their deaths had probably already happened. Izaya could think of a few idiots that he would be glad to find out were dead, and one, most of all. His grin widened at the thought. Shizu-chan.

Though Izaya would be happy to find out his most hated enemy had fallen in all this chaos, he hadn't ruled out the possibility of another particular fact, a zombie Shizu-chan. The damn blond was hard enough to fight off without adding extra stamina to his already 'immortal' body. If Shizuo was killed, Izaya just hoped that he stayed that way and hadn't risen along with so many others. He wondered about the Awakusu as he sifted through some of the medical supplies. More bandages and Tylenol were probably a good idea. Items like these would probably be hard to find once they escaped, so it was best to take them while the opportunity presented itself.

By the third scout, Izaya had made a pile of items, but his eyes narrowed slightly because he still had yet to find a bag to carry them. Glancing at the glass compartment, he intended to raid the room, but it hadn't occurred to him until just now that the one with him – even though a combat medic – was still a soldier, and what he was doing might be considered stealing. "Should I take the supplies as a sign that you believe me?"

Izaya glanced at him. It had been at least thirty minutes since either of them had spoken. Of course he believed him! There was no reason not to; the evidence was violently demonstrated in front of him. "I did say I was open-minded." Yeah, he had said that, but it didn't stop the shock. Izaya was suddenly struck with the realization that he still barely knew anything about them. It was good to know how it started, but it wouldn't help him survive. "What can you tell me about them?"

"When you kill them, aim for the head, it's as simple as that," the medic replied.

Izaya frowned, expecting more. Didn't he know anything else about them? He was a soldier forgodsake! Did the word stealth not exist in this man's vocabulary? Izaya thought back to the corridors and looked at the gun he held in his hand. It was no surprise; even if what he had seen were only in movies, the way to kill them was still the same; it was always the head. He always thought that the way they could be killed depended on the outbreak, but that had just been his theory.

Izaya realized the medic had no other advice; therefore, he would have to figure out ways to survive.

"I get that you want to know all you can, but I'm sorry that I can't tell you a whole lot. Like I said before, today was my first real mission on the field. I was only told to expect dozens of casualties and how to kill the infected ones."

The raven sighed. He thought having an authority figure with him would be helpful, but as it was, the percentage of overall help was only twenty. Izaya looked at the barricaded door. He hadn't heard any noise for a while. At least they know when to give up.

"Safe to say that the evacuation groups have left," the soldier announced with regret.

Izaya had almost forgotten about that, and suddenly their survival chances felt a lot lower than a minute ago. He frowned in thought. "Where was the location of the safe zone? Where were the evacuation groups taking everyone?" If he knew that much, then it wasn't completely hopeless. Izaya was confident he'd make it there on his own. Despite the other providing useless information, Izaya had decided to use him to escape, no matter how selfish that sounded. A soldier was a soldier, and even though the raven could defend himself, he was still classed as a civilian, and soldiers protected civilians because it was their job.

Izaya noticed his hesitation. There was a chance that the soldier wasn't authorized to reveal that information. Were there a limited number of people allowed to take shelter in the safe zone? It was only day four, so if they were already limiting survivors, what happened on day fifty or a hundred? Undoubtedly the more survivors, the better their chances. Izaya wondered how many people had already been killed because of their disclosure. Another thought soon followed. How many had died from infection and risen again? It sent a cold shiver down his spine. How many idiots had tried to leave Japan on flights in the first few hours of the outbreak before it even had a chance to hit the news?

There was still no noise outside, so their chances of escaping this room rose. The medic didn't answer his question, but he had taken off his rucksack and packed the supplies. Izaya watched him for a moment, unsure of the idea of leaving the items he had collected for himself in the hands of another. Unfortunately, he still needed to get the hell out of this place, and trusting the soldier wasn't exactly something he wanted, but it would keep him alive for now. It didn't matter if Izaya didn't trust him. As long as he trusts me.

Izaya didn't want to be someone who threw his conscience out the window within the first two hours of living in this kind of world, but he didn't have much of a conscience anyway, so he liked to think so. In this world, in this devastation of violence, it was kill-or-be-killed, the survival of the fittest. Izaya knew the human race better than most people, and he bet they had already succumbed to that way of living.

The two stood by the barricade, the rucksack over the man's shoulders. They glanced at one another with a silent question of 'are you ready?' Izaya nodded, his hold around the gun tightening, his thumb flicking off the safety in preparation for what they might face. He winced at the sound of the shelving in the eerie atmosphere of impending doom. Slowly, the soldier reached for the handle and turned to the raven with a small smile. "By the way, I'm Asami Yuudai," he said and then outstretched his hand.

Izaya looked at his hand and back at the man's face. The barricade was gone, and they were about to face at least ten or so zombies if they hadn't strayed too far from the corridor. Given how he had ended up in the hospital, Izaya wondered if it was a good idea to reveal his name. Had it been on the news before the outbreak? He considered the fallout and concluded that no one probably cared whether he was in the hospital or not in all this chaos. For a brief moment, the thought of that made him frown. They probably thought he had already fucking died!

Tsk

He was probably the furthest from their minds for entirely different reasons. Izaya almost laughed because he bet that even with all this chaos, Shizuo would still try to chase him out of Ikebukuro.

"Izaya Orihara," the raven finally answered. Did it matter anymore?

Yuudai nodded and opened the door slowly, taking the first step outside and then another.

Izaya waited.

A hand gestured for him to follow, and the two of them stood outside, staring down the corridor.

The not-so-empty one.

There were fewer than before, but that didn't make Izaya feel any better. Four zombies were still too many for his liking. He didn't even want to face one of them! "I still think our chances are better if we head to the roof," Yuudai whispered, hoping his tone wouldn't attract them just yet.

Izaya narrowed his eyes. As much as he would like to agree, he didn't like the thought of trying to fight their way through, even if there were only four, but their options were minimal. Risk the zombies in front of them and quite possibly a few more between the entrance of the roof and the staircase or risk the second-floor stairwell and what might be even more zombies waiting for them.

"Don't waste your bullets, Izaya. I don't have any more ammo for that gun, so just stick behind me." Izaya tensed with a fist clenched, and the hold on his weapon became tighter. The feeling of literally placing his life in someone else's hands was overwhelmingly concerning.

Maybe if it were someone he knew, someone like Simon, or even Kadota, someone that wasn't a stranger! "That option doesn't work for me," Izaya spoke and stepped out from behind the soldier, raising his gun halfway before Yuudai grabbed his arm.

"You might need them later," Yuudai hissed, yanking the raven's arm down to his side.

Izaya gritted his teeth and glanced sideways at his only companion. "I need them now," he hissed back.

Yuudai sighed in irritation and poised his weapon, frowning at him before facing the zombies, who had started to turn their attention on them. "Use your gun ONLY if necessary." He stepped in front again, taking the lead, and it wasn't long before two of the zombies shifted faster toward him.

BANG!

BANG!

The gunshots echoed through the corridor, and the bullets penetrated their skulls, leaving a spray of blood. The other two reacted strongly to the sound, and before Izaya decided to shoot as they drew closer, Yuudai fired his own. He exhaled a sigh and turned to Izaya. "Better go while we still can," he said and jogged down toward the last stairwell. Izaya glanced to the side, wondering if he would be safer if he took his chances on the second floor, down to the first and –

"Izaya!"

Izaya turned his head in time to see a Zombie.

Not quite dead.

Its mouth opened as it groaned loudly, baring its teeth, leaning very close to his throat.

Izaya's eyes were wide with shock, his entire body rigid.

There was nothing he could do.

Izaya screwed his eyes shut.

It was over.