Chapter 67: Roadkill

The car was still moving and approaching the danger up front by the second.

There was no time to decide, no second to think.

"What do we do? Run him over?" The words were uttered fast by Namie and Izaya's brain went haywire with multiple answers to the questions.

Good idea.

Kill him.

For what he did to Shizuo.

Bad idea.

He was standing in the middle of the road.

It was suspicious, was he waiting to be killed?

Surely not-

"No. Stop the car-" The brakes were hit hard before Izaya even got to finish his sentence.

Smeary grin right up in place the bastard stood as if he were waiting for them. As if he had known they would come by this road and it sent a chill down Izaya's spine.

"Shizuo." He called curtly, but he didn't even need to issue a command as the blond already got out of the car.

Grasping the steering wheel as if her life depended upon it Namie nodded towards Izaya with a quick glance. She was ready to take off as soon as Izaya asked her to.

And with that Izaya returned the glance and followed Shizuo onto the road.

With most of the day having gone by it was an eerie setting of bloody red on dirty concrete that presented itself in front of them.

They were on top of a broad bridge. No immediate danger was to be found left and right as there was a couple meter difference from the top to the bottom.

One or two cars stood aside, a corpse laid here and there, but apart from that? Nothing of danger.

Yet.

"I told you we would see each other again," Shijima announced, "Though I admit I was expecting one of you, not both," he added and Izaya felt the momentary urge to shove those words right back down the bastard's throat.

But this was not the time to get angry nor for revenge.

Nails.

As soon as Izaya had stepped out of the car and stepped into the light of the sinking sun he had seen their reflection.

Orderly, with the precision of a machine they had been arranged in front. At least twenty rows of nails resting on their head and therefore presenting their sharp bottom had been placed before Shijima's feet.

And suddenly Izaya was very glad he stopped Namie from running this guy over. They wouldn't only have ruined their tires, but fallen right into whatever it was Shijima had prepared for them.

They hadn't acted according to their plan and yet Shijima showed nothing but winning smiles.

"What do you want?" Izaya asked, his body tense and ready to react. No matter what this guy was intent on doing, he was prepared.

Blinking shortly, Jo's hoe touched his lips, as if contemplating the question on a wider level before a smile spread across his face. "Peace," he finally uttered, accompanied by a quick nod, "Yeah I think that's a good answer."

Peace-

As if.

He had been the one to try to kill them in the first place.

And yet the answer gave fodder to a possible negotiation. Izaya felt tense, but he let none of his body language show that fact as he gifted the bastard a smile.

"Then step off the road and we promise we won't bother you in any way." The degradation he felt upon even thinking about letting that guy escape unscathed was off the limits, but it was necessary.

They had barely any means to fight.

Shinra was in the back of the car, possibly needing a blood transfusion from one of them sooner or later. The clock was ticking- but if Izaya guessed correctly Jo's hoes weren't aware of that yet.

"A tempting offer, " Shijima called, and Izaya felt victorious for a brief second.

That is until the bastard smiled- and it was not a smile of cooperation.

"But I am afraid I can't accept."

The sound of an engine starting roared through the silence of the sunset before Izaya realized his grave mistake.

It had been odd.

Why was Shijima standing in the middle of the road?

If they had just wanted to slow them down and ruin their van they would have only needed to hide nearby and watch them as they drove across the bed of nails.

Instead Shijima had been placed there almost as if to warn them about the trap. If not for their sake then what had he been there for?

It was when a truck pulled up from behind their van that Izaya realized the true purpose of his presence.

Distraction.

Quicker than Namie could possibly reverse the van, the larger vehicle had blocked the road from left to right. The driver's cabin was smashed into the railguard and the side of the semitrailer served as a perfect roadblock.

Markings made with blood were spread across the white material along with a couple of gruesome smileys drawn across a suspicious rectangular shape.

Legs moving faster than his tongue, Izaya felt his guts plummet to the ground faster than he liked.

"Namie!"

And suddenly the rectangular shape moved. Cut into the side of the semitrailer it served as a second non natural exit. Almost as if it had been prepared for this moment alone and Namie's grip on the wheel stiffened as he eyes saw the reflection of the horror behind their van.

Fungi- More than they had ever encountered in a close up had been stored inside the semitrailer. And now they moved down the rectangular entrance that had slammed into the ground.

Groans followed, speed was picked up-

And the asshole saluted.

"Good luck~! Let's see if you can survive these as well!"

He was treating this like a fucking game as all hell broke loose.

It were a ton of fungi- but at least it were only fungi. Not the nightly creatures that battled Shizuo in strength, it were just regular infected and despite the direness of the situation Izaya felt a hint of hope at the fact.

They could deal with these- they had to!

It was either get rid of them now or die. There was no way back and no way forth unless they got rid of the nails on the road, but Shijima who was still standing up front as if watching a movie unfold was probably not going to let them swipe those away without a fight.

The back to their van had been opened by an amateur and with dread Izaya realized that the zombies, much stronger as they were than average humans, would easily tear it apart and get to Shinra and Karisawa.

No words were spoken, no orders exchanged and yet it seemed as though they had all communicated with a beehive mind.

Karisawa was at the back of the van and by the way the leaves to Shinra pulled shut tightly. Izaya figured she was holding that door closed with everything she could.

Namie was there too- having jumped out of the driver's seat she had picked a metal rod off the ground.

Blood splattered and mushed brains decorated the sidelines of the road as Shizuo had chosen a similar weapon and brought it down on the first of those bastards.

Screeches filled the air and with dread Izaya realized the fatality of the noise.

They had just started a countdown of minutes. The fact that the sun was setting suddenly became an overlooked detail of horror.

This fight wasn't only going to attract other fungi- it was informing all flatworms nearby of their presence.

Laughter followed from behind as Izaya charged towards one of the fungi. He had no knives on his body, but a crowbar had sat at the side of the driver's seat for some reason and he was more than glad for the weapon as he cracked the skull of the infected fungus.

They had to hurry-

Glance whipping up to the front Izaya quickly gauged their numbers.

Twenty- to thirty- They were three people effectively fighting- meaning ten for each of them.

Streaming out of that rectangular second exit Izaya shortly appreciated the fact that it served the danger in low doses. There was not enough room for all of the fungi to run towards them at once.

Two were down- no three-

Handling that iron rod better than expected Namie had just pierced a zombie's skull eyes first.

Foot kicking down the head she used the brute force of her entire body to retract the weapon from its skull before glaring ahead yet again.

Of course she could defend herself. She had most probably been on her own before she met the group and joined Shinra in his journey of finding a cure. Appreciating that fact like nothing else that day Izaya focused on his own enemy as another fungus charged at him.

Thirty. Four down- now six. Shizuo had thrown his rod with enough force to skewer two of the bastards with one swing of his weapon.

Twentyfour divided by three- eight for each of them.

They could do this.

This was no number that Izaya wasn't confident to be able to kill. Rushing to the side he made it a point to avoid sticking too close to Namie or Shizuo.

They needed the fungi to divide their forces. Eight on one was already a hard number, but if for any reason they all charged just one it would be a sheer impossibility.

One, two- quickly jumping back Izaya's heart shortly leapt out of his chest when one of them reached for him.

Don't get bitten, don't get injured- Three, four-

Suddenly there was space. No more fungi was rushing into Izaya's direction. Blood splattered the ground as if a ketchup truck had spilt his load.

Head turning to the side, Izaya looked towards Namie, but she faced a similar situation. Two fungi rested at her feet and she heaved before looking towards the truck.

A smile spread across her lips and shortly following her line of sight Izaya realized why.

Those stupid brainless maniacs were trying to force their way out of the semitrailer all at once.

A feat not easily accomplished as the opening was to small and they actually hindered each other in their progress as they got stuck.

"Serves them right-" Namie hissed- another fungus finally made its way towards her. Blood splattered in a sparkling fontaine of red as his throat was pierced by Namie's weapon. Three.

That was six down of twentysix.

Gaze rushing to the left Izaya looked towards Shizuo- another five had been put to sleep forever and Izaya felt the adrenaline in his veins surge.

Halfway- they were halfway done-

Another freed himself from the chains that were his own kind as he rushed towards Shizuo. Smooth and slick as if never having done anything else, Shizuo beheaded the bastard with a quick swing- and groaned.

Facing his own fungus up front Izaya barely caught a glance of the expression before defending himself from a blow.

Grip on the blood smeared rod tightening Izaya grit his teeth-

Go down, go down, go down-!

Chest heaving the fungus joined the death dance of the rest and Izaya's body turned.

Shizuo had sunk to the ground and another fungus was running into his direction.

"Shizuo-!" Legs spurring to unknown speed Izaya's muscles screamed at the sudden overexertion- but it was needed and it was just in time that Izaya leapt forth.

Faster than that fungus Izaya stood before the blond.

Blood splattered, screeched resounded and before Shizuo knew it there was another dead body twitching on the ground.

He could feel Izaya by his side rather than see as he had momentarily closed his eyes. His chest.

It was acting up, he felt as if he were suffocating alive as it clenched in a way that was probably a simple warning from his body to not overexert himself. A warning that absolutely had meaning and reason to exist, but right now Shizuo cursed it for not waiting until this was over-

Another gush of blood sprinkled the ground and upon opening his eyes Izaya entered his field of vision up close.

"Hey-!" Worry, dread and adrenaline were splattered across Izaya's face just like the patterns of blood.

"I'm fine-" Shizuo quickly barked, his attention back on the front.

The zombies had realized their mistake of rushing all out at once, or maybe it was just sheer misfortune, but they were suddenly coming in spades.

Eyes darting to Namie, the woman swallowed before taking her stance.

Shizuo was down. One more, maybe two, that was the maximum he was going to be able to take out. With only Izaya and Namie left that made still over ten per person, and now looking at the stream coming from the semi trailer Izaya realized it might have been a little over thirty-

It was then that the back door of the van opened.

Faster than Izaya nor Namie could react Karisawa had jumped from the back. Redder than the blood on the ground the fire extinguisher she had taken from the back was brought down from above, cracking the head of yet another fungus.

A momentarily hint of surprise reflected on Namie's expression before she hissed.

"Get back in-!" but this time Karisawa wasn't covering before the scientist as she glared.

"They are too many for you alone!"

She was right.

She was dead right.

And Izaya appreciated the quick judgment as another batch of fungi rushed towards him with their death bringing infection. They could do it.

That was what he firmly believed.

Back meeting the door of the van Namie shortly bumped her shoulder before swinging down her rod once more onto another of their enemies. But it wasn't dead yet, the force had not been enough and quick in what appeared to be a succession of perfect teamwork Karisawa brough that fire extinguished down once more.

Heaving shortly the two glanced at each other.

No words were exchanged, no arrangements made and yet they knew what to do as another of the fungi charged at them.

It was beautiful in a really odd way. The groans and gasps of fighting created an odd sonata playing in the midsts of the blood grazed horizon. And just like a piece of music it had to come to an end soon if they didn't want to witness the second part of the play.

A whole minute passed, then two. The groans started to subside, the breaths evened out into a stream of a cozy refrain and the two women looked at each other with the slightest hint of a smile.

More fungi than they were willing to count were resting at their feet.

And the number streaming from the semi trailer had diminished to a handful. Only a few more. Only a few.

Karisawa's arms hurt from lifting the heavy object, but adrenaline helped as yet another head was busted downward.

Only a few more.

Just a few.

She had helped. Karisawa had finally managed to not only kill these zombies, she had even managed to save someone with her actions. Unbelievable happiness surged in her veins as she couldn't quite keep her smile from her face.

This moment was anything than what they had hoped for and yet she was somehow glad.

A glance was thrown towards Namie. She was piercing yet another fungi's eye with her iron rod.

And then Karisawa heard it.

Quiet, like the soft sound of a flute adding to a vast and elaborated piece of music. Izaya didn't hear it, not Shizuo and Namie didn't seem to have noticed either.

It was the click of a gun being unlocked.

Head turning away from the semitrailer and towards Jo's hoe standing up front she suddenly saw it. The gun in his hands.

And his aim.

Namie hadn't noticed the sound, but certainly the way Karisawa whipped around. Eyes following her gaze she met the same picture and her expression froze. The gun was aiming right at her.

And suddenly she was just there.

Karisawa.

Unexpectedly fast, selfless, quick-

And the shot fell.

To be continued~

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