Chapter 5

Now...

Finding himself face to face with a startlingly handsome face dominated by intense dark eyes, it took longer than it probably should have for Yugi to realize that the man's clothing was covered in blood.

"Yami," Seto said, dropping from his perch with the same sort of easy grace the stranger possessed. His shoes barely made a sound as they hit the tiles. "Please tell me things aren't as bad as I think they are."

The newcomer - Yami, apparently - glanced back over his shoulder. Following the direction of his gaze, Yugi saw that the people who had previously been milling about in the storm, were now moving slowly but inexorably toward the gap in the atrium wall.

"They're about to get worse," Yami said, then seemed to notice Yugi and Joey for the first time. He inhaled sharply through his nose, then grimaced. "Much worse."

Seto groaned. "Okay, forget barricading the gap, we've got to get these two out of here."

"Yes." Yami glanced over his shoulder. The gray shapes were lurching closer, pushing through the wind and rain. "And quickly."

"What about the people-?" Before Yugi could get anything more out, Yami had grabbed his arm and was dashing away from the partially blocked gap with Yugi firmly in tow. When Yugi twisted enough to check on Joey, he saw that Kaiba had a hand wrapped around Joey's wrist and was pulling him along.

At the front of the atrium, the first bedraggled figure slithered through gaps in the roots of the palm tree and flopped gracelessly to the floor. For the first time, Yugi got a good look at one of the people he'd seen out in the storm. His first thought was that it must be one of the actors who were a part of the card promotion, with the zombie get-up intact in spite of the rain. This one was missing most of its scalp, a flap of skin hanging down over one eye and obscuring what seemed to be glimpses of bare bone beneath strands of gray flesh. Dark stains covered the front of its ragged clothing, and, as it sruggled upright, what looked like intestines spilled from its abdomen. Some of them tangled on the palm roots, spooling out as the zombie tried to crawl toward them.

"Eugh." Joey and Seto had caught up with them. Without Yugi realizing it, they had all stopped and were staring at the grotesque sight. The intestines were acting like a leash, preventing the creature from making much head-way. Joey looked like he might lose his expensive lunch. "That Pegasus guy has lost his mind if he thinks that is gonna sell expansion packs."

"Not even Maximillion Pegasus is that crazy," Seto said, his voice grim. He shoved them toward the bank of elevators near the info-desk. "Move! Or would you rather get eaten?"

"Whadda ya mean eaten?" Joey demanded, his voice pitching up on the last word. His eyes bugged out. "Wait. Are you tryin' to tell me that thing's for real?"

Yugi really hoped that wasn't what Seto was saying, because there were more of them struggling through the spaces around the palm tree and lurching across the atrium. "Uh, guys-"

"'Cause that's crazy talk!" Joey continued, his voice headed for 'only bats can hear you' territory. "I know you think I'm stupid, but I ain't fallin' for-"

"Joey-" Yugi yelped, spotting how close the nearest zombie had gotten. "Less arguing, more running!"

Yugi felt Yami shove him at Kaiba, who in turn shoved him at Joey and stepped between them and the monster. Peering around him, Yugi could see that the zombie wasn't Intestines-R-Us, but another one that had come at them from one of the side corridors, which meant it had already been inside the building before the tree happened. And wasn't that a happy thought?

The new zombie reached clawed hands toward Yami and snapped its jaws, tendons standing out in its thin neck as it strained toward him. Long blonde hair liberally streaked with blood obscured most of its face, but Yugi thought he could make out the remnants of careful eyeliner and lipstick beneath the gore. When it lunged at Yami, Yugi thought he saw sharper than normal canines behind its snarling red lips.

Heart in his throat, Yugi watched as Yami drew back his arm and then slammed his fist into the advancing zombie's chest. Literally into its chest. When he pulled his hand back, he was clutching a dark mass of flesh about the size of a man's fist. He squeezed and something black and viscous oozed through his fingers. He made a disgusted face and flung the rest of the rotten tissue to the floor. The zombie collapsed like a marionette whose strings had been cut.

"Holy shit," whispered Joey, sounding equal parts grossed out and awed.

Yugi's stomach lurched and he gulped, forcing back a sudden rush of hot bile. What the hell was going on?

"What are you waiting for, applause?" Seto sneered, stomping over to slam his boot down on the thing's skull, crushing it. Bits of bone and gray matter spattered on the marble tiles. He grabbed Yami by the arm and slung him toward the gaping duo by the elevators. "Get going, before we're the dish of the day at an all-you-can-eat buffet!"

Filing away his (many, many) questions for later, Yugi let Joey hustle him into the first elevator that responded to his desperate jabs at the buttons. The other two piled in and the doors glided shut just as the next zombie reached them. Seto kicked it in the chest, sending it flying back into a pair of its brethren and toppling all three to the floor in a writhing pile of limbs. Then the elevator was rising and Yugi slumped against the rear wall of the car, shaking all over and trying to ignore the blood dripping from Yami's hand.

"What the everlovin' fuck?!" Joey shrieked, throwing both arms up and making inarticulate noises for a moment when words failed him. "I mean- What the fuck?!"

Leaning against the wall near the controls, Seto folded his arms and simply raised one eyebrow at the display. "What part of 'zombies' do you not understand?"

Joey gaped at him. "How about all of it? Starting with zombies and ending with, oh I dunno, ZOMBIES."

"Are you sure they're zombies?" Yugi asked quietly, and then found himself suddenly the object of everyone's attention. He fought the urge to shrink back from the stares and lifted his chin. "It's just... I've never seen zombies with fangs before."

"Seen many real zombies, have you?" Seto managed to stuff an entire world of derision into a single raised eyebrow.

"Watch it, wiseguy!" Joey shook his finger in Seto's face. "You're such a frickin' zombie expert, how many have you seen?"

"Too many." Seto suddenly looked weary.

"One is too many," Yami said, sounding as tired as Seto looked. "But, yes. They are zombies. And, yes, they have fangs."

"Why?" Yugi tried to puzzle that one out. "I mean, why do they have fangs? I get that this isn't a movie, so things could be different, but... Why fangs?"

"The short version?" Yami shrugged. "They're failed vampires."

o0o