Another terrible roar rips through the foyer. The beast lunges over the counter towards you with all the power of an avalanche.
A force on your back and suddenly your world is spinning. You are vaguely cognizant that you are no longer standing. Your spatial awareness ends there, all other senses are drowned out by a throbbing headache.
"You dumb? Get up!"
You feel slow, oh so slow, like you're plugged up with cotton. Groping idly around, you discover that you're sitting in sand... no wait, dirt.
"I SAID MOVE, DAMNIT!"
A peculiar wetness tickles your neck. You swipe at it with a hand, bringing up a rusty smear.
The sight of blood breaks you out of your stupor, sending you scrambling to your feet. Almost instantly, you stagger back as the blood rushes to your head. You must have hit your head and blacked out when Shizuo shoved you out of the way, and into the planter. All about soft touches, that one.
By some miracle, Shizuo has managed to knock the knives out of its grip and is now grappling with it in the center of the room. He's raining blow after blow against it, fists slamming against the monster as rapidly and consistently as heartbeats. Shizuo might as well be using a feather-duster, because the thing doesn't seem to take much notice.
In between the flurry of punches, you manage to study the thing in detail for the first time. Bear-zombie- that is the politically correct term- is a hulking menace, broad shouldered and barrel-chested. Blistering pustules spiral down arms as big as tree trunks. In place of eyes are black, hollowed out pits, as dark as dead coals.
And they turn to look straight at you. Noticing this, Shizuo ups his assault, arms pumping so fast you feel exhausted just looking at him. His bartender uniform is peppered with tears, the open patches of fabric revealing bruises. The fight in the streets winded him, and you're terrified to admit that you don't know how much more Shizuo can take. The idea of the blonde juggernaut actually having a physical limit seems ridiculous; no, he's meant to be like the Dynamo Bunny, beating and beating and beating with no end in sight.
Bear-zombie bats away Shizuo's arms before sinking its fist straight into Shizuo's chest. The wind is torn out of Shizuo's lungs with an audible whoosh;he stumbles, but manages to jerk away just in time to dodge the follow-up fist.
Well, crap. Street fighting tactics aren't going to work against an abnormal one. If that is Shizuo's only stratagem than you two will be off to meet your Maker in a matter of minutes, smelling like raw fish and zombies.
All the while, you stand rather usefully in the corner of the room. Hands trembling, you rake your mind for something to do. You're not much good at close combat, probably more of a liability than actual help. Sneakers flying over debris and shards, you dash into the kitchen Bear-zombie emerged from. Fires are crackling in the corners, just starting to gain fuel.
A loud CRASH makes the building shudder and glass comes raining down. Whirling around, you find a beat-up van sitting atop what was once an intricate window display. The door is thrown back and never have you been so happy to see the nauseating couple.
"GET IN!" Kida yells, hand outstretched. Saki's profile is to you; she's exchanging words you can't hear with whoever is at the helm.
"Hear that?!" You exclaim, cupping your hands to amplify the sound. "Leave him Shizuo! We're ditching this joint!" You throw a stool at Bear-zombie for good measure.
"Go ahead," Shizuo calls out, hauling up a nearby table and smashing it into his adversary. Bear-zombie takes offense to this, unleashing a mighty roar. An angry HONK echoes through the foyer as Saki pleads with whoever is in front.
"_, let's go!" Kida yells, beckoning you frantically.
"Hurry up!" Kadota barks from the passenger seat. "Ikebukuro gets quarantined in an hour. Whoever's in, stays in. Now, you coming or not?"
Shizuo, of course, chooses now of all times to hold a grudge and Bear-zombie of all targets. "Get a move on, they're not gonna wait forever."
"Shizuo," you implore, "Come on! Set aside your macho pride for once-"
"N-not leaving without... KASUKA!" Shizuo screams, driving his shoulder into Bear-zombie.
"Leave him!" Saki shrieks to you. You know what you have to do. Dashing towards the van, you take Kida's hand.
"Thank you so much," you murmur, "for saving my life. But you guys should go. Don't let us hold you back."
You pull Kida in for a quick hug, shoot a sad little smile at Saki and dart back into the kitchen before they can protest. The fires have swollen, pumping smoke into the room. Eyes watering, you stumble over the rubble, scanning your options. A piece of metal snags your pant hem and you go down, crashing atop a pile of stove burners.
Stove burners...?
"Get up, get up!" Kida orders, swooping you off the ground. You have no time to appreciate his timely appearance as you hold the stove burner in your hands, regarding it ike it holds all the answers to the universe.
"Kida, help me get the propane tank! Quickly!"
The two of you press deeper into the now blazing kitchen. Smoke fills you to your core, but you don't relent until you reach the the reserve tanks. Wrapping your hands about the metal neck protecting the valve, you and Kida drag it out.
"Little early to be looting, dontcha think?" Kida coughs out.
You snatch a butcher knife off the counter. "C-compressed gas tank," you wheeze, "plus heat plus puncture equals rocket."
Kida looks at you as though you have just sprouted another head (which is entirely possible, given the circumstances). Despite the horrors surrounding you, you flush with pride at his blatant awe. You're a girl of simple tastes.
"CRAP!" Kida exclaims, eyes wide as saucers, and then it occurs to you that his shock was not meant for you. Shizuo is wavering like a shaky pendulum, staggering left and right. Bear-zombie is now the one raining heavy blows. The thing is just as fast as it is strong. With dodging no longer an option, Shizuo is doing his darnedest to block the bombardment.
You and Kida struggle to set the tank in position.
It's some spilt sake that gets to him, sending Shizuo's legs flying out from under him, arms pinwheeling.
Down he goes.
You choke, dropping the butcher knife. Kida rescues it, delivering thwack after inconsequential thwack to the tank valve.
Bear-zombie dives in for the kill.
You wrench the knife out of Kida's grasp, raising it high over your head and slamming it down on the valve head with a merciless crack.
For one, terrible moment nothing happens. Then the force flings you and Kida backwards into the kitchen, necks snapped back. A blaze of orange, the roar of a dragon and the tank takes flight.
Mind hazy with smoke, you imagine the tank is a shooting star and make a single wish.
There is a sickening squish as the tank burrows into Bear-zombie precisely where his kidneys would be if he had them, tossing out a chunk of flesh. The thing gives an unsightly bellow, spine flicking upright. It wavers once, twice before collapsing next to Shizuo.
But down is not out.
Finding its head next to Shizuo's ear, it fists Shizuo's collar, dragging him backwards into salivating jaws. Shizuo lashes out, digging his elbow into it as he's reeled in. You stammer out a warning but you are too far away-
CLANG
Its skull implodes from the blow and Kida lets the scrap metal fall from his hands, shoulders sagging.
Bear-zombie drops down for good.
Shizuo rights himself, looking like an operating-table post-surgery. You take in the smears of blood and guts and everything that you'd never want to see at a sushi restaurant and your face pales.
"Not mine," Shizuo assures you, hands held up defensively. You release a shaky breath and notice Kida watching Shizuo guardedly. It occurs to you that this is the first time Kida's seen the juggernaut up close.
"So," Shizuo begins, wiping the blood off his lavender-tinted shades. "They ditched you, huh?"
Kida glances away towards the destroyed door. "I, uh, let them go, actually," he confesses. "They'll keep Saki safe, so..."
Shizuo informs Kida that he is, in fact, one crazy bastard. Kida has conflicting opinions about this assessment.
"What was that about the quarantine?" You prompt.
"Crazy bastard," repeats Shizuo.
"Ah right, almost forgot. They're shuttling uninflected survivors out of certain points of the city, the metro station being one of them. They'll shut it down at midnight, when the quarantine officially starts. We were just heading down there when we spotted you guys."
You look at Shizuo, eyes pleading.
Slipping on his shades, he turns his back to you. "Look, we're square, alright? You don't need to stay here," he mutters. "I'm not leaving without my little brother."
Any elation from having defeated Bear-zombie evaporates; you deflate like a balloon. Your choice is painfully obvious. The metro station is not three blocks down from here. You and Kida could easily make it. Board a nice, clean train, relax of supple seats and put this nightmare far behind you.
Perhaps you'd be out of the zombie's grasp by then, but you'd be haunted by something else.
"Kida, I-"
"Actually I'm thinking of staying," Kida says evenly, ringing his fingers through his belt loops. "Fifteen minutes left, we'd never make it in these conditions anyway."
Well if you can't be relieved, then maybe you can try for wary contentment.
"Crazy bastards!" Shizuo calls out, marching off. Maybe it's the smoke talking, but you swear his voice sounds lighter than it has all evening.
