-๑-๑ ஜ ๑- Chapter 44: Continue --๑ ஜ ๑-๑-
The mood seemed to have changed to something almost hostile.
Shizuo didn't really get why that was the case, but he was smart enough to realize something must have happened during their last attempt at securing food.
Namie´s eyes were practically shooting daggers as she faced the one who had brought up the issue.
"We went three times in a row now, it's only fair if-" but the woman wasn't even going to let Karisawa finish.
"So? You mean now is the time for me to die or what?" she hissed between grit teeth. "Didn't you just call me too unstable?"
Shizuo didn't really know Izaya's former secretary well but from his previous encounters he had thought she was more alike to Izaya than any other woman he met so far. Probably smart, maybe even misschievous.
Or in other words, capable of taking care of herself or at least making sure someone else was.
She didn't strike him as so… hysterical?
"What's the big deal?" Daggers were shot from angry eyes as the raven entered the scene. It was pretty obvious no-one had dropped their resentment over the few days he had spent asleep.
"Look who got up, the sleeping princess," Namie cooed, arms crossed and stance tense.
Honestly, Izaya had never been on good terms with the woman- it had always been some kind of forced work-relationship, but the hostility she presented now was on a level the raven wished he wouldn't have had to trigger.
"Want to kiss me awake?" Izaya winked, not exactly bettering the situation.
"Shut up, flea." Shizuo knew he was doing it on purpose, he even understood why- that didn't keep him from feeling annoyed by it though.
Izaya nodded approvingly, as if he were satisfied by how the blond treated him, considering they weren't supposed to show they got along.
"We need to search for food, but it's dangerous, and the last few times it's been us taking care of it. Kadota almost got bitten last time…" Karisawa explained the situation to them quickly, before anything got out of hand again.
"So what?" Namie hissed- on and about to protest again.
And so they started their protest again.
Sitting down on a turned over car that for some reason had been kept inside this camp, Shizuo just watched the scene unfold.
So far he hadn't really wasted any thought on the entire topic to be honest.
About getting food that is.
Even when he was with Izaya it had always kinda been him who told him when to do what.
And besides.
Seeing all these zombies, people being torn apart and corpses everywhere, Shizuo could very much pass on the idea of a happy meal, thank you very much.
Yet it was still an inevitable topic.
He didn't like it.
The idea of anyone leaving this safe place.
It might be because he had been staying here for a few days, but the thought of leaving for the outside again disturbed him.
After everything that had happened- after all the trouble he and Izaya went- leaving safety and risking everyone´s life for the sake of something stupid like food seemed like a joke to him.
"I can go."
Blinking the blond paused in his thoughts as the quarrels finally died down.
No way in hell.
"You won´t."
It had been Izaya who said that ridiculous shit.
"I have been handling you for years, Shizu-chan, so another few monsters don't scare me~", the flea shrugged, sounding oh so mighty and strong in front of their newfound group when Shizuo fucking knew he had to be anything but that.
He had seen the way Izaya reacted to the night zombies, he knew the flea could only defend himself as far as the normal zombies went- and for fucks sake, he wasn't even healed up yet.
"You know that´s-" Shizuo started, only to receive a silencing glare from the man instead.
Shizuo was so not pleased by the shit Izaya was pulling again.
"I don't mind coming with you," Kadota suddenly announced, distracting the blond´s attention into his direction.
"Eeeh..." Karisawa whined, as her initial goal of having Kadota stay in safety for once had obviously failed with that.
"Oh well, guess it's us again anyway then," Walker shrugged, not seeming fazed in the slightest.
"You don't have to come with me guys," Kadota made clear, but just from the way the two grinned it was pretty obvious his call was falling on deaf ears.
"That's out of the question."
"As if we would separate."
"You guys…"
It was nostalgic to say the least. Shizuo had never really been all too close with the three, except for Kadota maybe on occasions, but he had still always witnessed them sticking together like glue.
Glancing to the side he watched the flea, wondering if maybe that was his plan all along, that others went in his stead, maybe the man knew something he didn't and that's why Kadota suddenly volunteered.
Or at least he hoped so because otherwise the raven´s reason could only stirr from some kind of bad source again.
His stomach twitched at the not too long ago memory of Izaya ditching him and running off, because he thought it was a good idea to leave before he transformed into a zombie.
"Are you serious?" he questioned quietly, making sure no one heard him talk to the flea, "About going out."
Instead of an answer the blond merely received a shrug.
A fucking shrug.
His blood started to boil at the way the flea was acting.
"You-"
"If that´s the case I will go with you as well~!" Shinra suddenly chirped, drawing his and everyone else's attention to him.
"Huh?"
Celty scurried towards her lover, wildly typing on her PDA.
(No you won't!) No facial expression was needed to realize how worried she was about the fellow doctor´s idea.
"Celty I need some intel for my research, how am I supposed to get that if I just stay here?"
(Then I will go with you!) The doctor´s expression softened.
"And who will hold up the barrier?"
Silence.
Of course.
If Celty left the rest of the group then there would be no shadows guarding them. There would be no meaning to even choosing someone to leave in the first place.
"Besides, you don't have to worry!" Shinra suddenly announced giddly, randomly pulling at the blond´s arm. "I'm sure Shizuo-kun will come with me and protect me~!" Right after taking the blond´s arm the doctor took his distance, probably expecting that the blond would hit him or something, or yell no at him.
But he didn't.
An unusual pause of silence followed as the blond considered the option.
After all, if Izaya had volunteered for this shit, and really planned on going out there again, he was definitely going with him.
"... sure," that way he could at least watch the flea.
A bit perplexed, Shinra looked at the man.
"Eh?"
"I will come too." the blond turned his head, facing his former kohei as she approached the small group.
To be honest Shizuo had never held any grudge against her or hostility for that matter, but now? Just a glance at Izaya's secretary was enough to send the blond´s guts into alarm mode.
For some reason Vorona seemed pretty attached to the woman.
Maybe it was because of the zombie apocalypse. They might have escaped together or something.
Survived some crazy shit maybe, or maybe one saved the other's life.
Considering how his relationship with the flea had changed in those past few weeks there was no telling what happened to them in the same time span.
A hole started to open itself right underneath the blond´s feet as he realized he couldn't trust anyone here.
Shinra maybe.
But the others?
He had seen Namie´s brother going insane, he had seen that crazy woman dying while laughing, he had seen the fear those zombies implemented into Izaya- and hell that guy was anything but weak.
And then there were his guts. Simply screaming at him. These past few days he had been staying here with the flea asleep they had been doing so nonstop.
"Well if that's settled, what are we waiting for?" Shinra suddenly questioned, and motioned towards the shadow wall.
As if on cue Celty opened it in one spot so one human at a time could walk through.
Reluctant the blond stayed in place for a few more seconds- the others already moved.
It had been too fast.
Too fast to his liking.
Weren't they going to prepare anything?
Discuss strategies?
Maybe talk about where they would head or when they would be back-
but none of that was done and it unsettled the blond more than he liked to admit.
Izaya was the one who was supposed to love control and go crazy without it- but after those two days drifting back and forth between these guys with no goal or hope in sight starting this trip right now, like this, seemed like a suicide attempt to the blond.
A brush to his shoulder was what snapped him out of his thoughts.
Izaya's gaze locked with his as the blond rose his glance.
"What's wrong?" It was a quick question, quiet and his glance rapidly relocated in front to face the exit of Celty´s tent in order to not attract too much unwanted attention.
Right.
Izaya was with them.
He was back.
And he always had a plan.
He probably already had an idea of where to search for food and when they would return.
Not replying but just looking at the man for a few seconds Izaya was left to blink quizzically before the blond shook his head. Relief was starting to make itself noticeable.
"Nothing."
And with that being said he stepped out of Celty´s barrier as well.
It was midday.
The sun was high, the streets illuminated to every last corner. Nothing had really changed ever since Izaya and Shizuo joined the small group. He could even spot the building from afar- the one whose ceiling he had fallen through and where Izaya had saved him from being eaten by those zombies.
For a second the screams and their disturbing pleased noises reappeared inside the blond´s mind and he quickly chased the image away. It had been a few days ago.
The creatures were dead- so there was nothing left to be afraid of. At least inside that one building that is.
Letting his glance travel down the road that was actually leading towards the location their school and subsequently hide-out was in, he wondered which direction they were going to take.
Quickly checking their makeshift weapons- for Karisawa something that seemed like a flame thrower and for Yumasaki and Kadota some knives- their small group assessed their surroundings.
"So, you have been here longer than us, where should we head?"
It was Kadota who had asked the flea. Sticking his knife back into his pocket he let his eyes travel along three possible routes- a highway, the street leading to their school-building and a road that seemed to lead deeper into the city.
It was the last one Izaya seemed to fancy.
"Down there. We haven't been there so far and I doubt anyone else has as the nightly creatures are lurking basically everywhere," he announced quickly, only receiving feedback in the form of nods as the group turned into said direction.
Shizuo said nothing, just followed.
As long as they stayed away from those dark buildings and the groaning noises inside them it should be fine after all. They were barely out for a couple minutes but the mood had received a heavy impact upon just leaving the hideout.
The noises coming from various abandoned buildings certainly didn't help either.
Scurrying to the side Shizuo watched Shinra, he dug around in some pile pulling out what seemed to be a rusty knife, before deeming it too broken and throwing it away again.
A corpse dangling from the roof of a building was the object the crude doctor fancied next as Shizuo watched him study the wound it died of.
The guy had hanged himself.
Probably to avoid meeting the more common fate of being eaten alive…
Shizuo´s guts churned at the way too vivid memories of zombies tearing people apart. It was a sight he wished to forget- but that wasn't an easy matter.
And glancing at the others they seemed equally depressed.
They were surrounded by nothing but devastation- and the worst of it was that no one talked about it.
Usually Shizuo wouldn't even get to notice all these small details or think about them too long because the flea would be ranting about whatever, but right now they just advanced like pallbearers at a funeral.
"Kinda bad for the environment," Karisawa suddenly said, pointing towards one of the many cars that had been abandoned. It had been damaged and oil was leaking from its side, carelessly dripping onto the pavement.
"I think the environment is happy it got rid of us, after all scientifically speaking, we are earth's plague not the zombies," Shinra shrugged, not even trying to be pessimistic with what he said, but the words were only perceived as such as Karisawa fell silent again.
Kadota had never been a man of many words, but right now even he seemed to be unnaturally quiet.
The air was tense.
"Wanna hear a joke?" Izaya suddenly questioned, bursting the mood of fatality with questioning frowns instead.
"Not really…" Karisawa mumbled, seeming like she doubted Izaya's sense of reality.
Said man continued anyway, not regarding her opinion in the least.
"What's the difference between Jesus and a portrait of Jesus?"
Having lit a cigarette the blond inhaled the soothing nicotine as he glanced around their group.
Shinra seemed to be the only one interested in joining the hypothesis and cocked his head, humming.
"One is human, the other a painting?" he tried, only causing the flea to grin in response.
"Wrong. The amount of nails you need to hang them!" Soft chuckleds followed, however, just by Shinra and no one else as the rest of the group kept advancing in silence.
"Come on guys, that was funny," Izaya tried again, obviously keen on raising the mood.
"Kinda blasphemous," Kadota threw in but only caused Izaya to snort in response.
"So? Don't wanna get him mad?" he questioned with a shrug, kicking one of the corpses heads on his way. "If that's God's understanding of a nice environment to live in then I can do without him."
Certainly.
The flea did have a point there.
Exhaling the soothing nicotine Shizuo let his eyes travel across their surroundings. There were no zombies. None at all. Compared to when all of this started it was almost peaceful to walk down the road.
Sure there were bodies scattered everywhere. Human ones, torn apart, and zombified versions, usually missing their head.
"In fact, how about worshipping me instead? I love humans~" Izaya announced, causing Karisawa to snort at the suggestion.
Slightly offended, Izaya crossed his arms, "That was no joke, you know?"
"I know that's why I laughed."
"I don't think laughing out here is smart in general." Yumasaki suddenly threw in, not having spoken a single word since they left the safe camp, earning nothing but a shrug.
"The nightly creatures only come out at night, and everything other than that we can get rid of easily."
Shizuo didn't really like how casually Izaya was glossing over a topic that both of them knew was more than just triggering for both of them. He knew he was just trying to take this feeling of fatality off the small group, but still…
There were better ways to do that.
Letting his head tilt up, the blond glanced into the sky.
It was cloudy.
Possibly going to rain soon.
He didn't like it, it reminded him way too much of the night the two of them almost got killed. Those creatures- the car- how Izaya risked his life just to save his. It caused goosebumps to travel down his neck involuntarily.
This time he wouldn't let anything like that happen again.
to be continued~
-coughs out lung- so, I took too long, again xD Honestly I feel like that bad lover from books that keeps saying he will change his ways but ends up getting drunk yet again lmfao
My drug is procrastination I admit it C':
But I wasn't entirely lazy this time at least, I am officially done with Book ¼ of my original work and I am now busily writing book 2 right after. Things should progres way faster now that I have my series started :3
For anyone wondering, I plan on finishing and publishing all 4 books sometime in late 2022 or 2023 :3 In case you are interested in that, I will give a huge heads up in each of my stories once that happens hahahaha xD
along with an update of course. C;
xD
Talking about Updates, I will update every story once a month from now on- that's double the time I should need, but having that spare time will hopefully keep me from procrastinating xD
With that being said, see you in September guys C;
Hint of the day~
next chapter will be…intense. C: C: C: C:
PS.: I actually passed an important law-exam that took place a month ago xD I had to study so fucking much for it- which was part of the reason I was kinda afk from Shizaya for a while x'D BUT YAY it´s done xD SHIZAYA I`M COMING xD