It's Maki.
It's a little hard to see past the gore around her mouth and her strawy hair stuck in her pale eyes but that zombie is Maki.
Rin makes a little noise. She barely notices.
There's a long moment of standoff. They're in a car park, they're alone – but not for long. Panic rears its ugly head and Rin skitters backwards, onto the van, in a moment of desperation. It's so quiet it's too quiet. It hasn't been this unnervingly quiet since the train station. Rin traces her eyes up the swollen blue veins up Maki's neck, to her face.
Maki's head lolls.
In an effort to gain purchase, Rin's foot slips right off the windshield and her shoe goes with it, tumbling to the floor with a startling noise. She's falling. She's going to die. The bonnet clips her side on the way down and she lies on the bitumen, humiliated and very afraid. Maki scrape-steps closer, blocking off her exits slowly, slowly –
Something small and dark peeks over the fence for the split-test of seconds, and is gone again, but Rin swears it was a face. A survivor. The very thought that she's not the only live person on the earth occurs to her again, filling her with a shot of adrenaline. She takes her shoe – no time to put it on – and makes a mad dash under Maki's limp arm. She feels the back of her neck prickle as something reaches out and misses but a hairs breadth as she passes.
Too close. That was too close.
Rin abandons all attempts at stealth and pounds the pavement as fast as she can, get away, get away. She uses the light pole to swing herself around, and as she does, she catches sight of an indeterminate number of slumped, dark shapes down the road behind her.
She runs.
The fence on her left suddenly drops off and she backtracks and dives without second thought through a gap. She's in someone's backyard, now. It's been trashed. She wastes no time in rushing inside and locking the door behind her, only slumping to the ground when she is sure there is nothing following her. It's quiet again.
"Nya…" Rin says, and the word feels unclean in her mouth, unfamiliar. It doesn't help at all like she hoped it would.
Slowly, shakily, Rin brings herself to her feet and looks around. The room has been turned upside down, the TV smashed. Cutlery litters the floor in the small kitchen. She accidentally steps on a used shell. Not zombies, then.
Nakajima.
"They trashed the place, huh, Kayo-chin…" Rin breathes, running her finger over the counter. There's a spatter of blood by the hallway. She pales.
Fatigue washes over her, not gently. She collapses against the countertop before she falls over. When was the last time she had a good sleep? The last time she ate? Not for the first time, Rin wishes her pack hadn't been stolen. Was it Hanayo, who took it? Or someone else?
There's nothing in the pantry. The fridge is warm, empty.
Upstairs – Rin found the staircase by accident, but was glad for it – the bath is still full, and she wonders if she has time to at least clean herself a little. She does splash a bit of water onto her face but there's blood and mud caked there that won't come off without a proper scrub. It's better than nothing. She looks up.
The Rin in the cracked mirror on the wall gazes back with hollow eyes. Even if she found her friends, would they recognise her, now? Would she want them to? She looks dead. Three weeks of hell can do that to a person. There are scratches and marks all over her face. She doesn't know how they got there. Her arm! Right!
Carefully, Rin undoes the sloppily wrapped bandage around her arm. No glass, good. It's pretty good, she thinks. Hasn't hurt in days. She shoves the bloody bandage hastily inside a drawer.
Something twangs her nerves and she feels very high-strung as she moves into the next room, probably a bedroom. There's no way there's anything in there. The door's open. Raiders got here first, not zombies. Bedrooms have beds and clothes.
Rin opens the door to a rancour stench but it's nothing particular new. It's dark. The curtains are drawn. Of course the light doesn't work. Opening the door a smidge further reveals half a dead body spread across the ground, hand outstretched as if reaching out in death. But it's still. The legs have been blown off completely. Her hand comes off the door handle sticky.
Looks like she won't be able to sleep here.
It feels wrong to leave the door open so Rin closes it, washes her hand in the opaque water until it stains with copper, and then retches the contents of her empty stomach into the bathtub. Gross. Her knees are shaking. Her brow feels sweaty. "Not good, Kayo-chin…"
The bathroom has a window, and Rin stumbles over to it. It overlooks a cul-de-sac. Empty. But there's movement in a house across the street. Bad. Movement is bad. Try the back door again. Maybe… Maybe all the zombies are just in her imagination and –
Thud.
There's a very very very familiar sound from downstairs that makes Rin freeze and tear up.
Thud.
It's actually sort of rhythmical, if she thinks about it. There'll definitely be another one or else it's just a-
Thud.
Zombie. That two-handed, whole body slap against the door is the most intelligent thing a zombie can do and this is it. This is it. She's seen a single zombie break through a door before, out of sheer persistence alone. It was the neighbour's house. She hasn't seen them since.
Thud.
Shaking herself off, Rin pauses for a moment, trying to consider whether it would be worth jumping out a two-storey window or not. She decides against it. Her leg already hurts enough, she doesn't need another injury, and the windows look locked shut. Damn. She slides down stairs and tumbles to the floor, and it's so loud. The thuds continue, more sporadically now, as if the zombie has gotten a little bored with throwing itself at the door. She waits, close to the ground. Maybe if she makes no noise, it'll go away. No noise. None at all. Don't even breathe, Rin.
One. Two. Three.
Thud.
It's not going away…! Rin hears her breath shudder, it must be so loud, so loud. She staggers forwards, half running, half crawling, towards the entrance. The front door, then. There's no choice.
She jiggles the doorknob. It's locked. Why is it locked? Who locked it? Who would lock a door from the inside?
And then it occurs to her that she's trapped herself like a pig in a slaughterhouse, just because she didn't think, because she wanted a bed to sleep in. What an idiot! What would Maki think –
Thud.
And the door gives way. Rin realises no that she didn't close it properly, and now Maki stands in the doorway, swaying as if getting her balance. Rin didn't notice before, but there's a bloody handprint on Maki's hospital gown. It feels like a horror movie and her stomach just dropped to her feet. Her heart is hammering away in her throat.
"M-Maki…" She pleads. With what? Why is she trying? Her throat cracks and she makes a dash for the door again and under Maki's arm but that trick only works once. She slips on something, a shard of glass, and sprawls by Maki's feet. Face down. She's scraped her cheek and isn't sure whether it's wet from tears or blood. She curls up with a whimper. Let it be quick, she prays. She feels a shadow looming over her.
And nothing. Nothing happens. Has her prayer been answered? Might she have time to run? Rin looks up, preparing to run with the last breath of energy she might have left. Maki is still standing there. Limp. Her head is cocked and Rin isn't sure whether that's a conscious action or a result of a damaged neck.
And then, she's sure she imagines it, but Rin thinks she hears Maki open her creaking jaw, and groan out a word. "… R-r…n…"
Or it could have just been a groan. In a flash, Rin shoves herself backwards, reflexes kicking in to save her life for the umpteenth time, and glass cuts into her shoeless foot. Maki steps forward, very deliberately. Terrifying. It's worse, somehow, to see a zombie that should be shambling, stepping so delicately.
"R… in…"
Rin stops, stares. That was – that was Maki's voice. Gurgling, and forced through clenched jaw and loose tongue, but still, unmistakeably…
"Maki…?"
Maki's eyes widen, though Rin's not sure what that gesture should mean. It doesn't look like recognition. She shrugs her shoulder, the shoulder that's been blown off by something or other and has stained the whole arm with shades of brown and red. A hand comes up. Grasping. Clutching. Wavering.
A moment. Two. Rin's heart is still pumping hard and fast and her mind races by so quick she feels numb, but it's different now. For some reason,
she doesn't feel the need to run.
Maybe she's given up.
Or maybe, the way Maki locks onto her gaze with an equal stare is enough to give her hope.
She's still scared. Even when Maki treads (almost with care) closer, Rin starts to think staying here was a bad idea, that maybe Maki is going to eat her after all, and she hopes Hanayo made it, strangely.
That's not to be her last thought, for Maki stops inches away and places a heavy hand on Rin's head. She just leaves it there for a long time, staring off into the distance, maybe thinking, maybe just going through the motions. The feeling lingers even after Maki slips her hand off.
"Maki?" Rin asks, in a voice so broken she hardly recognises it. Maki doesn't say anything and Rin wonders whether this is all just a dream or some cruel prank and vaguely considers that this might all be real. Maki is dead. Maki is dead but she hadn't even got to die yet and Rin isn't sure what's worse.
Is it better to be like every other mindless zombie, or something almost human, but not quite?
And a second thought: who killed her? Did Maki remember? Was she thinking? Was she thinking about Rin?
Why couldn't Rin save her?
Stupid Rin. You can't save anyone. You found your friend but she's dead and you're still all alone.
She's crying. It's stupid and she's crying but it's not like there's anything else she can do. She's scared and tired and sick and sad, and she's crying. Maki says nothing, does nothing. Rin wipes her face on her sleeve, repelled at the grime that rubs off. They're too close.
"I'm sorry," Rin sniffs, "I'm sorry. I'm sorry."
A broken record. A fallen star.
There's a sudden low, threatening growl, and Rin jumps out of her skin. Maki wrinkles her nose and bares teeth, turning around to the doorway like a feral animal. Rin realises that Maki isn't quite as she'd originally hoped. But, it's better than nothing.
It's better than nothing.
Rin takes the hint and slips outside the door. Her stomach crunches against itself and growl, inopportunely. Maki lumbers after her, with none of the stealth and finesse Rin had ingrained into herself this past week. It's frustrating. Rin feels bad all those times she messed up with Maki or Eli. They were so patient, then. Though, she supposes the impending threat of death puts a dampener on patience.
Outside the fence, they can see as they approach via the side, there are two zombies milling about, aimlessly. Maki should have been there. So there is something different about her, after all. Rin gives the unresponsive Maki a little smile.
"Quiet, okay?" She holds a finger to her lips, hoping Maki understands. There's no nod, but Maki stares indefinitely, so Rin decides to think positively and say that's a yes.
Quickly, Quietly. Maki is nowhere near is quick or as quiet, and it's heartbreaking to see the graceful idol, the pianist, reduced to a shambling, bloody zombified mess. But the zombies don't seem to react to her. Maybe it's a zombie thing.
Rin doesn't brave going back towards the parking lot, the underpass, and downtown, so they turn the other way. She's getting awfully close to the barricade here, and she knows it, but it's probably safer this way. Humans, or zombies?
She looks back at Maki, lagging behind just a fraction, but surprisingly able to keep up the pace fairly well. They slither behind a drug store and wait.
Humans, or zombies, or Maki? What is Maki?
Rin can't bring herself to touch Maki or go anywhere near her, as much as she wants to, but she does give a little thumbs up, a smile. It's shaky at best. And then she curls up against the wall, and feels her heart constrict with something other than fear and exhaustion, though she is very scared and very, very exhausted.
Rin wishes she could curl into herself and never resurface. Maki just stands there. It's comforting, almost. But Rin still feels like shit. This is far from the romantic dream she had. This is far from any dream she's ever had, even her nightmares.
It's better than nothing.
WHAT A TWEEST
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