-๑-๑ ஜ ๑- Chapter 45: Losing head -๑ ஜ ๑-๑-
Shizuo couldn't help but feel like he was on a simple walk with the flea.
A slow one though. That was odd because they had always been running.
When they met- they ran, when they searched for a new place to stay, they ran, when Izaya tried to create the antidote- he almost lost his life, and they ran.
The all too cozy moments they shared resurfaced from his memory- like when they pretended to be red riding hood and the wolf.
He couldn't hide a soft smile from showing on his lips as his sight fell on a book on the ground.
"Shinra do we have some books back at the tent?" It was quite an odd question he supposed, after all they were supposed to get food, nothing else.
"I don't think so, why?" Shinra asked while stumbling over some care pieces that had scattered from an accident nearby.
"No reason," Shizuo shrugged, picking the book up. Soft chuckles were heard from the side as Izaya gave him a look.
"Seriously?"
Shizu-chan merely shrugged.
"One day we might run out of fairy tales."
Fairy tales, huh?
Izaya couldn't help but wonder whether the blond had actually enjoyed their little pretend to be, or whether he wanted to do Izaya a favour.
Looking over his shoulder, Izaya couldn't help but be curious what it was that had caught the blond´s attention.
"What did you even get?" The title however caused him to cock an eyebrow. "This will be hard to enact, don't you think?" It was the Leviathan.
"I bet you could do it," Shizu-chan merely shrugged, obviously not knowing what it was about.
"Reenacting Hobb´s theory of society? Sure you grab the sword, for me the bishop's staff and then we can start," the flea laughed, only bringing confusion to Shizuo´s expression.
Looking at the cover he could only spot some kind of monster made of humans. He thought the story might be revolving around some war or maybe a heroic story of how it ended.
"Bishop's staff?" he questioned, trying to figure out what it was that the flea was talking about.
"It´s a theory Shizu-chan. That humanity can only live being controlled by a monster called the leviathan who rules over everything from religion to society in order to keep peace. It´s a martyr." The raven paused for a moment, pondering on the topic. "Well not like I disapprove, as times are right now it might be legitimate."
"Because of the zombies?" Shizuo questioned, wondering just how the flea knew all of these things.
Izaya merely shrugged as he skipped a few steps ahead, kicking some stones in the process.
"More like the lack of working together by the humans that did survive."
Facing the direction Izaya had run off into Shizuo spotted what had caused him to speed up.
There was a shop. A grocery store to be precise. The windows hadn't been crashed and everything inside there also looked pretty much untouched.
"This-" Kadota started, warily eyeing the inside of the store.
"Well there is a 99% chance we will find food in there," Izaya announced, that flick blade he always had at hand flipping open and shut a few times as he looked at the building.
"But it's dark…" Karisawa threw in- and really.
Since electricity had gone down there was nothing left that could illuminate the store inside.
The shelves usually vibrant with sweets, cans and whatever were now painted in a dark shadow of black. Rooted to the spot the group stood there. No one was particularly keen on being the first to enter the place.
"Should I crash the pillars again?" Shizuo questioned, realizing their current dilemma at hand.
"Pillars?" Shinra questioned, but Shizuo didn't even get to explain as a harsh, "No." resounded from the flea next to him.
Turning his head he faced the raven- his expression, cold, intense.
Of course.
He was an idiot.
"Sorry, bad idea," he mumbled, remembering all too well how his action of smashing that store back then had caused the flea to lose his mind and inject that shit into his arm.
Like a blow to his gut the guilt resurfaced from the back of his head. It wasn't his fault per se, but yeah-
"Then what? Are we going to simply walk inside?" Karisawa questioned, expression a bit pale as she took a cautious step towards the store.
Silence was all that greeted the group from it but it was nowhere near a sure indicator of safety.
"How about throwing that car in there?" Shizuo suddenly suggested, causing them to turn.
The mentioned vehicle was parking not too far from the store- well, parking might be the wrong term as its engine hood was gently hugging a lamppost.
The driver must have been speeding quite a bit to achieve such results.
"It would create enough of an opening to let the sun shine in but still not be dangerous to us," Shizuo went on, narrating his string of thoughts aloud as he let the option wander his mind.
"Good plan." Kadota was the first to reply as he took a few steps to the side to make room for the execution.
Shoving his sleeves up the blond picked up the mentioned car as the rest of the group did the same, giving assuring nods.
Tearing the metal frame off the pole with a screech way louder than Shizuo would have liked he lifted it above his head.
His bartender's suit was still intact although his right sleeve had been ripped off during their previous encounter with those assholes- well and right now it seemed it was his left sleeve´s turn as he hurled the object into the store, a piece of cloth accompanying the car on it´s flight as it tore.
To be honest the impact was a bit grander than Shizuo had expected, or wanted it to be. Crumbling into itself the ceiling came off almost completely as the walls collapsed.
No groans were to be heard, however.
Hair standing on ends, Izaya approached the shop. It was awfully quiet. Had there really been none of these monsters inside there?
"Seems safe," Shinra mumbled while poking a piece of the downfallen ceiling with a metal rod he had found god knows where.
Stepping ahead Kadota was the first to actually enter as he let his eyes scan the remains of the shop. Light was illuminating every single spot and the shelves had been tilted. There was nothing there.
"Alright, Karisawa, Yumasaki," he called shortly, and the two friends quickly followed up, bags already at hand.
"Aye aye sir" Erika cheered as she stepped over a piece of rubbish in order to hop inside the store´s remains. Shinra did the same, a bit slower as his eyes searched for the medic section.
It was only then that Izaya noticed the sound of something crumbling.
"Ah Shinra, wait-" but too late. The raven had stepped inside the store, quickly, wanting to get the doctor out of the way, but the bespectacled man proved to have no quick reaction whatsoever, as a mere, "Eh?" left his lips, before the ceiling cracked once more.
Having busted a deep hole into it it had already collapsed for the most parts, but a few plates of concrete were still dangling up there.
To be precise, a couple of them were right above Shinra´s head- now coming down with joy as they buried both Shinra, as well as Izaya with ease.
Hitting his head on the ground Izaya barely managed to get his arms up in order to protect his eyes from any sharp edges grazing his skin.
The plates weren´t heavy, none of these small store´s ceilings were actually, only consisting of as little material as possibly needed- but they were quite large but not exactly harmful.
"Izaya!" Shizu-chan´s voice reached the raven from underneath the rubbish as he sighed.
"I´m fine, I'm fine,"
He was fine- there was no pain, he was merely trapped underneath what looked like a gigantic, but thin, square of concrete. While one arm was trapped the other was free to move and so he used it, pushing at the concrete in front of his face. The structure moved, more rubbish falling right after.
He thought it was just stones- materials making up the wall- except it was not.
"Fuck-!" and suddenly zaya´s back pressed into the wall, his entire being tensed and his heart skipped a beat.
Time froze.
Hair.
His breath choked-
Eyes.
Cold sweat-
Teeth.
One of the nightly creatures right in front of his face.
Like a string of iron closing around his neck his ability to breathe was instantly robbed from his body-
His legs moved only to hit air- the pressure on his chest imitating the day it crushed his rib way too vividly.
Away.
He had to get away-
Away-
Away!
AWAY-!
Sheer panic overwhelmed his senses as vertigo overwhelmed what should have been rationality- but his eyes were nothing but fixed on the sight.
The teeth, the rotten skin, the eyes- everything just so detailed.
Detailed- and unmoving.
Izaya was still holding his breath when realization hit.
It was dead.
It was just a head.
A zombie head, yes. One from the nightly creatures. But it didn't move. It didn't bite him.
It was dead.
Dead.
Two seconds in it was already an obvious fact- and yet Izaya couldn't stop his heart from beating out of his chest.
It was then that his surroundings moved and the familiar worried expression of a certain blond entered his vision.
"Did you get hurt?" Shizu-chan had lifted the rubbish off his body.
As if on autopilot the raven got up from the ground.
"No."
Numb.
The words were quick- breathed harshly, short- the blond noticed and yet-
"Shizuo-kunnn- if you may…" distracted by Shinra´s whine, the blond turned around, only to spot the doctor in the same predicament as pieces of concrete had trapped his leg.
Izaya saw it too.
Saw how Shizu-chan moved over quickly to help their friend as well.
Everything was fine- it was. Nothing happened, nothing at all. No one got hurt, no zombies appeared-
So why?
Why could he feel his heart race to the point it made him feel light headed?
Closing his eyes for a second he shook his head.
It was fine.
Quickly he got up from the ground.
It was just a head.
A dead head, not one of the creatures, not a living one that is.
There was no danger.
No threat.
Like a chant the thought kept repeating inside his head.
His chest hurt a little from the pressure of the piece of concrete, but it was nowhere near as life threatening as back then-
Izaya wanted to laugh at the panic that sparked inside his chest- but his throat constricted painfully at the attempt. The memory suddenly reappearing and reappearing in front of his eyes like his brain wanted to torture him more.
It was crushing.
Hard- just like the zombie that had attacked him in the bathroom.
Feeling the urgent need to breathe the raven let one hand travel up to his forehead and closed his eyes in an attempt to calm himself down as his body broke into a cold sweat.
Karisawa, Kadota, Shinra, Shizu-chan- they were all busy themselves,
Shinra´s complaints, Karisawa´s rants, Kadota´s orders- everything wrapped into smooth sounds drowned out by water.
No one was paying attention to Izaya's breathing.
-to his eyes, unfocused.
-to the way, the back of his hand found its way to his lips.
Nauseous.
Everything suddenly crashed into Izaya as the current event caught up with his conscience.
All control seemed to slip from his hands.
It was too much.
He wanted to get away.
Just for a moment
That´s right. That would help.
A moment of peace.
Just away.
Swallowing hard, the raven turned as smooth as possible- he didn't want to attract any attention. Didn't want anyone to ask him what´s wrong- But most of all he didn't want them to see how he wasn't able to deal with the sight of these creatures.
He had to calm down.
"I'm going to scout the area for a car."
Quick.
Smooth.
If the raven hadn't known he would have believed his own lie, that's how convincing he spoke these words as he slipped out of the shop.
He could still see the group as he turned sideways.
Shinra in front, tilting his head in thoughts as he seemed to be immersed in some theory.
But none of that mattered as the raven slipped behind the wall of the adjacent building, finally cutting off all sight on him.
He was behaving erratically.
He knew it.
He was.
Letting himself lean against the wall of a building Izaya let his head thud against the cool surface, facing the sky. It was getting cloudy, probably starting to rain soon as well. The air was cool, helping to try and get his mind back on track as the raven inhaled deeply.
He had developed unnecessary panic of those nightly creatures.
He knew it.
Ever since Shizu-chan and him saw that helicopter he had suppressed it. Shoved it aside. But this bad? From a fucking dead head?
He felt extremely lightheaded. As if having pressed a button his mind gladly showed him the picture again- painting it over and over and over again.
The blood-
The rotting flesh.
Way too vividly, Izaya recalled the people he had seen so far. Zombies- zombies of people he knew, people he didn't know. Seiji- the spine dangling from his victim´s head. Shiki- de-gutting those subordinates right in front of his eyes.
And again, the head- so close it almost touched his face with that rotting skin.
Nausea overwhelmed him-
It was fine.
Hot flashes raced across his face, cold shivers down his spine as he had troubles breathing properly. Dizziness overwhelmed his senses, nausea hit him harder than expected as he found himself leaning over only to empty himself on the ground.
He was heaving- is surroundings started to spin faster and faster-
"Shit-"
He had to calm down-
He was shaking.
"Calm down-"
Why was it that his body didn't listen?
He tried to take a deep breath, but all he could muster was a gasp- and another- another- another-
Quick. Quicker- panic started to arise as his control proceeded to decline.
He couldn't think straight-
He couldn't control his body-
Fuck-
Fuck-
Fuck-
"Izaya?"
to be continued~
HOOOOOO
I'm (almost) on time - XDD
So miracles do happen from time to time, interesting xD
-whispers- might be because my little sister recently discovered the Shizaya fandom and now we are both squealing over them -COUGH COUGH- xDDDD
I love my sis xD Stocking up the Shizaya flame together hahaha
Anyway~
Daw poor Izaya, panic attacks are a bitch- but ohoho gotta admit how much of a sadist I am xD I love writing them way too much xD
Not much there to say this time I guess, except see you on October the 31st~ ;3
PS.: Writing this took a little longer than expected, so the bcd update will be out tomorrow xDDDD