----- G9
The clinic was a spacious building, with ample rooms to safely house a good group of students. There was a main kitchen and lounge area, with doors leading off to bedrooms and a bathroom that would have been almost luxurious, had it not been ransacked by the government. The whole building lay in darkness, the air cool and the dust settled.
There was a smashing noise, and a few shards of glass fell onto the floor just by the door like frost. A porky hand reached in through the newly created hole in the door window, and felt around for the handle. It grasped it, and pushed down.
The door opened up, a faint light cast by the moonlight into the clinic.
Hiroshi turned to Ryuhei. "You make sure she don't run off."
"Hey, what the fuck you giving orders for now?"
Hiroshi smirked. "Fine, you wanna stay with her or go check the building for anyone else? I don't mind either." Hiroshi knew that Ryuhei could be a coward sometimes, at least when he didn't have the shadow of Mitsuru or Kazuo to jump into when the stakes got too high. Hiroshi wasn't that type of git. He preferred to stand on his own with his hands in his pockets. Sure, he knew how to handle himself, but he wasn't the type to get into violence for no reason, like Ryuhei. Thankfully, it seemed Hiroshi was right about his friend's lack of courage.
"Umm... I'll stay with her, I think I should. She's a sneaky one... there's probably no one in the house anyway!"
Hiroshi nodded dryly, turning and walking into the house. His dagger was drawn as he peered around. He didn't expect there to be anyone here, and if so, the only people let out before them of any threat were Kazuo and Shogo. Hiroshi wasn't keen to meet with either. Shogo was a tough guy, the quiet type, the ones who always ended up being most dangerous. And when it came to dangerous, Kazuo was in a league all of his own.
Yuko stood shaking slightly, staring around with wide eyes. Ryuhei had his weapon out now, a fan which at first, they had all assumed to be useless. That was until Ryuhei had pricked his finger trying to shove it back into his bag. Where there would normally be rods of wood or metal between which the material was stretched, there were sharp blades, totally concealed by the elaborate fan. A deadly weapon of deception indeed. At first glance, it was harmless, but if he were to thrust it at Yuko, she wouldn't stand much of a chance.
Not that she would have been able to run away if Ryuhei's weapon had been a toothbrush. The boys from the gang were so scary... bad kids... evil, and she hoped upon hope that someone would be able to find her, but till then, she was rooted to the spot in fear, doing anything they told her too, because she didn't know what else to do. She couldn't beat them on her own.
Ryuhei stared at her suspiciously. Admittedly, he was staring a little lower than Yuko would have liked, though him staring in her face was simply the lesser of two evils.
"What's your weapon then?" he asked slyly.
Yuko froze. What if she had something good? She couldn't let them take it away. Not that she'd use it, but if it was a gun, then the two of them would have a gun. She didn't want the bad kids to have a good weapon. But... I'd never use it. Never...
"He took it..." she said, turning her head towards the open doorway. She dared not lift her hand a point in case Ryuhei thought she was up to something and attacked her...
"Hey... Hiroshi!" Ryuhei called, his voice wavering slightly. He didn't like the fact that Hiroshi had taken Yuko's weapon and not told him what it was! They were like brothers!
"What?" called back another voice in annoyance.
"Come here Hiroshi!"
"What the fuck is it?"
"Just come!"
"... Oh for fuck's sake!"
There was the sound of footsteps before Hiroshi appeared at the doorway, looking disgruntled and pissed off. "What the hell?" he said, staring down at Ryuhei with a most unimpressed look. "This had better be good, I was busy!"
Yuko winced. They were going to find out she'd lied already! Oh no! Oh god no! Stupid Yuko, so stupid!
"What was..." Ryuhei began, but stopped as a loud mechanical sound pierced the air. Definitely gun fire, but it sounded very fast paced, like a lot of little shots at once. What was worse, was that the gunshots were being fired in their direction.
Yuko jumped in fright, a shrill scream escaping her throat, and Hiroshi cursed, sliding back inside the clinic slightly.
Ryuhei however, was not having such a fun time. He had fallen to the floor, howling in pain as he clutched his left leg, which had been pierced by the blast. "Fuck!" he screamed.
"You!" Hiroshi cried, pointing at Yuko. "Get him inside!"
Yuko gasped, but quickly ran to do what she was ordered to do. Ryuhei soon got back onto his remaining good foot, slightly supported by Yuko, though she wasn't the most sturdy classmate. They hobbled past Hiroshi, Ryuhei still howling loudly, and Yuko looking as if she was about to have a heart attack.
"Put me down there!" Ryuhei cried through broken gasps, pointing to a wooden chair that had been left upright in the main room.
Yuko lead him over as fast as she could possibly manage, whimpering all the time. Touching a bad boy... Oh god...
Eventually, they reached the chair, and Ryuhei slumped down into it, howling once more from the pain. As soon as he was down, Yuko leapt backwards automatically.
"Get the painkillers!" he cried.
Yuko's eyes widened, and her mouth hung open. Slowly she shook her head and grabbed the strap of her kit bag nervously. "I... I don't know..."
"It's a fucking clinic!" Ryuhei screeched. "Fucking look for them!"
Yuko bit her lip as she felt more tears come. She nodded nervously, and ran over to where there were a load of cabinets. Surely there would be something in there...
She opened up the door, and stared in at the assortment of drugs contained. It seemed the government had raided anything lethal, as the cabinet was a lot more empty than it should have been. She stared in, trying to read the labels, but it was far too dark. Pain killers… Pain killers… If only we could turn on the light!
Then, a thought came to her, and she kicked herself for how obvious it was.
Flashlight!
Nervously, she fiddled with the zip on her bag, to try and fish out the flashlight. Does he have to make so much scary noise? she thought, as Ryuhei's wails rose and fell in the air.
Finally, she managed to unzip her bag, feeling around for the flashlight.
Her hand touched briefly on something small.
A bottle of something... a tiny bottle...
She grabbed it, and pulled it out. In her other hand, she grabbed the flashlight and switched it on so she could read the label.
"Hydrocyanic Acid
Poison"
Yuko's eyes widened. My weapon is... is poison?
"Is that it?" Ryuhei shrieked, as he glanced over at Yuko. She bit her lip again. Evil boy... he's a evil boy... but you can't kill him! No no no! Murder is bad! Murder is evil!
But so is he!
He's a bad boy... nasty... he yells things at the girls, bad things...
Unholy things...
"Yeah." She said, trembling.
"Then fucking give it here! This hurts!" Ryuhei screamed.
Yuko whimpered, and ran over, handing the bottle to Ryuhei. He was obviously desperate for the pain killers, as he didn't even look at the bottle, he just opened it and downed the contents without question.
Yuko took a few steps back. Then some more.
Ryuhei wasn't watching her, he was once again inspecting his leg and making pained noises. There was still no sign of Hiroshi.
Hiroshi had closed the door, and was peering out of the hole in the window he had created himself. He knew it wouldn't be much protection against gunfire, but at least it was something. He at least needed to know who he was up against.
The landscape looked back at him, dark and foreboding, refusing to give up the secret of their assailant.
The knife held steadily in his hand as he stared out suspiciously. Come out, come out... Wherever you are, you piece of sh--- His thoughts were cut short by an ear piercing scream from inside the clinic. It came again, and again, accompanied by some sort of gurgling noise.
Fuck, what now? Thought Hiroshi in annoyance, as he got up and moved quickly into the main room.
Yuko had backed over to the far wall, where she cowered in the shadows, screeching blue murder and trembling. Ryuhei was sitting on a chair in the middle of the room, facing away from Hiroshi. His body was spasming a bit, and his head hung over, his hand up, clutching either his mouth or his neck, though Hiroshi couldn't tell which from behind.
"Ryuhei, what's going on?" he called out.
There was no response in Ryuhei, the spasms only seemed to get more violent.
"Ryuhei!" Hiroshi cried, moving over to the chair. He could tell that something was wrong.
Very wrong...
No sooner had he reached the chair though, when Ryuhei's hands flew away from his head, his body entering into a violent seizure as a sudden wave of crimson exploded across the room. Blood was flying from Ryuhei's mouth, accompanied by a sickening low pitched gurgling, squelching sound, before his body coiled over, landing face up with a splash. His mouth was fixed in a horrific expression of terror and torment, his lips bulging and loosing their colour.
Hiroshi leapt backwards. "Fuck!" His eyes immediately flew up to Yuko, who was trembling so badly, it was as if she was holding her very own earthquake.
"You!" he cried out, raising an accusing finger. Women! Fucking scheming backstabbing women! "You did this!"
Yuko shook her head violently, yet did not cease to scream.
Scream... Fuck! Hiroshi thought, suddenly remembering that they had only just been attacked. He glanced once more at Ryuhei, then back at Yuko. "You, don't you fucking dare to move..."
He hurried back to the door, and glanced out of the hole in the window.
Shit!
Hiroshi leapt backwards. Not only could he see who had just attacked them, but he could also see that they had moved forward, and were now only a few meters away from the door, walking right towards them. Cursing, he got up, and ran through the clinic, ignoring the scream Yuko produced at his return.
They're playing… he's really playing! Fuck! Back way... there has to be a way out through the back...
Yuko attempted to press herself further into the corner as he rushed past her.
Soon, Hiroshi's footsteps died away, and the slamming of a door confirmed that he was gone. Just her. Along, in the clinic, with Ryuhei's body, the contorted and pained face staring at her... the swollen and blue lips... the whitening eyes... the dulling skin.
So that's what devils really look like...
Then, there was another sound. Another door... someone had opened the front door.
Yuko's eyes widened even further with yet more fear. Oh no, no no no! Not me!
A shadow was cast into the room from the portion of light let in by the open door, and footsteps proceeded towards the room at regular and precise intervals, till a lowly figure came to stand still in the doorway to the room, staring at her and Ryuhei.
Yuko gasped.
"Kazuo..."