Chapter 63: Light of hope
"20km isn't far at least. We should take half an hour at most." A warm breeze carrying over a fresh stench of garbage and decaying corpses forced Karisawa to pinch the bridge of her nose as she spoke. It resulted in quite the comical acoustic without really bearing any intention to.
Bypassing a car that would have perfectly served their purpose Izaya however, shook his head. "We aren't going to drive."
The announcement came as much unexpected as it was dissatisfying to her.
"Ehhh?" Karisawa complained, "We are going to walk all the way there?"
20km to be covered by foot, yeah, Izaya could see how she wasn't all too keen on the road trip. Especially with fungi and flatworms lurking everywhere. It was a long distance and their group easily to be spotted in the midst of the road.
"We need to secure the area. Getting back will require a vehicle of some sorts in order to transport the apheresis machine, so it's even more important for us to check the route for any obstacles beforehand," Izaya explained in order to shut down any resentments before they arose. He was usually all in on annoying people for the hell of it, but right now when they were reliant on each other he preferred a more direct approach. "Besides, starting an engine near our hideout would most probably give away our location instantly." Softly nodding to herself Karisawa abandoned the desired car and joined the group on their steady walk. "And I heavily doubt Jo's hoes will just sit around doing nothing with such delicate intel."
"As always sharp as a pencil," Shinra smiled, while poking one of the dead corpses on the road with a stick.
People had fled the land in panic and most cars they saw had either been abandoned for lack of fuel or crashed into the railguard.
Some contained the corpses of zombified humans, some had been raided for anything possibly useful.
"It's common sense. I'm more worried about anyone even remotely considering this as a field trip." Namie spoke up, and didn't miss to cast a glare at Kariswa in particular. Izaya had already realized she wasn't a fan of Erika for some reason, and the young woman averted her stare quickly. "Do me a favor and don't mess up, okay?" Namie glared, visibly shrinking Karisawa's already diminishing confidence.
"I will give my best…"
Looking back and forth between the two, Izaya snorted. "Don't take her to heart. She is a bitch by nature not by choice."
Ah. He was the next one who received a glare for that comment, but at least Karisawa's expression lit up again.
"One more word like that I will personally make sure you don't make it back," Namie added, but Izaya knew better than to fear that woman as long as society had crumbled like this.
In a laboratory? With assistants doing her biding? He would check every coffee he was served for poison. But right now?
"Scary~" he commented sarcastically, and Namie bit her tongue on a lowly whispered curse.
A light smile drew upon Erika's features and she joined Izaya in front.
They had been waking for a few minutes at most.
Izaya was leading the way whilst Shinra and Shizuo built the end of the line. The blond had been wrapped up in bandages and supporting splints to the point he looked like a stiff walking stick, and Shinra- well Shinra was just being Shinra.
Inspecting every damned detail about their surroundings and running back and forth between the side rails he looked more like a child than a doctor.
Namie had taken the spot she deemed most safest of course, walking right in the middle of the group.
According to her, that way Izaya or Shizuo would get attacked first, giving her enough time to escape.
It was a gruesome idea that she was using her comrades as meatshields, but not unexpected.
Eyes flickering back to Izaya Karisawa looking at their temporary leader.
Not that they had decided that he was one or anything, but somehow she couldn't help but think that way.
Ever since they met… hadn't it been Izaya who was in charge of setting the direction.
And even now- she couldn't help but notice how light it felt to talk to him.
It was a fun thought because Izaya had only just told her that he had considered killing her not too long ago. And yet somehow Karisawa couldn't see anything bad about it.
At least he told her.
In this atmosphere people somehow talked way too little about what really mattered.
Everyone had been so depressed, holed up- before Izaya and Shizuo arrived that is.
They had merely tried to survive. As a group.
Only Shinra had been like a soft glimmering light of hope. He was talking about changes, about turning the humans back to normal, regaining their lives- he outshone everyone with his pure optimism and willingness to act.
…. until Celty was gone.
Casting a short glance at the doctor now Karisawa felt a bittersweet smile draw to her features.
Looking at him jumping around, talking and making jokes with Izaya he had done an entire 180 in the last few days.
Only thanks to Izaya.
It really felt as though the spark of hope had returned, and this time Izaya was at the center. Everyone was moving and they had a clear goal in mind. It just felt as though they could actually achieve what they were hoping to.
Stopping short in his steps Karisawa quickly saved her balance by moving aside as Izaya suddenly turned.
"Shinra go left, Namie can you check below?" They had arrived at a bridge crossing two roads beneath. Izaya wanted to check out their surroundings. Crunching her nose Namie sighed before moving to the railguard. "Don't order me around, that feels disgusting."
"Karisawa, the map," he announced next and the woman quickly pulled them out of her pocket.
A marker Izaya had picked up god knows when was pulled from his own pants and with a quick bite to the cap he unscrewed it before setting it down on the paper.
Slowly, but surely Shizuo moved over to Izaya and looked at the map.
"What are you drawing?"
"Intel." The answer was as short as the explanation useful, and Izaya snorted when he was met with nothing but confusion. "The fungi's locations tell us a lot. Hot spots for them are dead zones for the flatworms. They serve as a kind of heat map, telling us where to move when and why," Izaya explained.
"I never thought about it that way." Karisawa mumbled fascinated as Izaya marked down the spots he had seen the zombies in with shrooms and possible flatworm infections with swirls that were probably supposed to resemble worms.
"Everything clear. Noone in sight, neither dead or alive." Shinra announced, returning from the left side of the bridge.
"Some fungi are lurking under the bridge, but that's all." Namie added as she stood by with crossed arms.
"Perfect." Izaya announced and with that the map was handed back to Karisawa. "Let's move on. Shall we?"
The group was moving in sync much more than Izaya had expected.
Kadota meanwhile couldn't have chosen a more dysfunctional partner.
"Vorona, wait-" as quiet as possible the man hissed the pleas, but the woman had no shred of intention to slow down for him.
Walking ahead farther than he liked her too he quickly sped up his steps into a full blown run.
Again.
This woman was going to be the end of him- where did she take her stamina from? Left, right, up, down she was anywhere and everywhere all at the same time as she checked building by building and street by street.
"Keep your voice down," she hissed curtly, finally having stopped so Kadota could catch up to her.
"I can't keep up with you, can you slow down a bit?" Kadota heaved, and his already injured shoulder pulsated in protest. No matter how good Shinra was at fixing injuries, they did need to heal on their own still.
And running around with a freshly sewn cut was definitely anything but pleasant.
"What happened to our plan? I thought you were going to let me move on my own and just take track of my route?" Vorona complained with her arms crossed and Kadota sighed.
"I did, but you should also keep my location in mind. Being attacked by Jo's hoes isn't only something that can happen to you alone." Recognition flared in Vorona's eyes and she hummed.
"... fair point. What do you suggest?" Taking a deep breath Kadota sighed before nodding towards the street.
"You are faster and more agile than me, you can keep moving around like that. I will be taking the road flat straight. I won't budge on my way. If there are zombies I will circle around them and move up ahead. You meet me every fifteen minutes that way we both know we haven't been killed or found their headquarters."
Vorona seemed to accept the idea and nodded quickly.
"Understood. But if you slow me down I will abandon you."
Kadota snorted- it was an answer he expected, and yet he couldn't help but notice how the woman had made a habit of mimicking Namie's bad attitude.
"You are starting to sound like Namie," he pointed out and the woman glared.
"You say that like it's a bad thing."
Ah. Bad topic.
Somehow Kadota really had no idea how to talk to this woman. She seemed very cold to anyone present, no matter what her counterpart's intentions were. She was very rational. But then again she had started to show bursts of emotions when it came to Namie and her well being or pride.
Scratching the tip of his chin Kadota averted his eyes as he mumbled.
"... you like her don't you?"
"Is that a problem?"
Wow. Direct.
Snorting softly, Kadota shook his head.
"Not really-" he had hoped to be able to bond with her over her obvious love for the female scientist, but that had probably only backfired if anything else.
"Now come on, we don't have time to waste here," she fired instead, and with that she was gone and Kadota sighed.
This trip was going to be anything but pleasant.
"This is it?" Karisawa asked, and Izaya looked at the map.
They had been running around for ages.
The sun that had barely announced the start of the day was slowly coming to meet the horizon once more. Boring and uneventful, that's what the trip had been.
They encountered barely a handful of fungi, and Namie was unexpectedly quick in taking care of them.
Choosing an iron rod she had picked up somewhere on the way she stabbed them into their eyes with the precision of a surgeon.
No screams, no nothing.
The road had been mostly free too and now standing in front of the blood donation facility Izaya even spotted a car not too far from them.
A parking lot was nearby, or in other words, free fuel to use- everything seemed to be falling perfectly into place and Izaya hummed.
The sun was slowly setting, but they had an hour or two at least until they needed to take cover for the night.
One of the cars would probably be the safest option for that. Covered by a blanket or something so that no one would spot them by chance. No one alive that is.
Because Izaya doubted zombies were smart enough to realize that cars could act like tuna cans for cats.
Walking ahead Izaya looked at the fairly huge building. A blood donation facility didn't really differ that much from a hospital. Just the entrance was broader, the colors of the walls had been chosen in red and a fat cross dangled right above.
The only special detail about this one was that it appeared to be a two storey building.
Most blood donor facilities were smaller and one floor only- but this only increased their chances of finding what they needed intact and ready to be used.
Approaching the sliding doors Izaya didn't really need to explain anything.
The group had stopped as if they were NPC'S waiting for another mission to act upon, but what did they expect him to say?
"Are you coming?" he asked, jerking them out of their stupor. Shizuo was quickest to react as he joined Izaya at the door.
Electricity had of course failed long ago and so Izaya tried to force it apart.
Breaking would have probably been easier, but depending on the interior he was weighing the options to maybe abuse this facility as their hideout for the night.
After all, what was better than a second floor? High enough to be safe from fungi and flatworms, but not too high so they could jump out of the window if worse came to worst and anything unpredictable forced them to move quickly.
Realizing what Izaya was trying to do, Shizuo nodded his head sideways.
Understanding the cue Izaya moved and Shizuo grasped the doors.
Quick and unexpectedly quiet Shizuo forced the entrance open with just a short wince on his face.
"All good?" Izaya asked and Shizuo nodded. "... do you think there is someone in here?" he asked quietly instead and Izaya smiled-
"That's what we are going to find out."
Quick strides made their way inside the building as Izaya gazed at its interior. Another well received fact about blood donor facilities was that they usually consisted of large and vast rooms. After all, privacy wasn't really an urge people felt the need to cover when it came to extracting blood only.
Looking to the walls Izaya spotted a couple beds arranged left and right. Wires, tubes and various utensils needed for blood taking were set at each table next to the beds and Izaya found himself thinking that this place looked pretty untouched.
Of course.
With the virus breaking out there had probably been close to none who had even had the chance or will to donate. Skipping to a flight of stairs in the back, Izaya slowly made his way up.
From the corner of his eyes he could see Karisawa and the rest entering the building with a bit more caution than Izaya had exercised. They were obviously afraid. All except for Shinra of course. He was just grinning like a madman looking at all the technical tools at his disposal.
Reaching the second floor was a matter of seconds- and Shizuo followed by maybe two or three more as the pair looked at the second floor.
There they were.
Two even.
Windows aligned on the opposing wall and two perfectly undamaged and working apheresis machines stood in the corners sleeping respectively.
"This-" Shizuo asked, of course never having seen what they were looking for he had no means to tell whether they had been successful, but Izaya's smile did serve a slight hint.
"Yes, Shizu-chan, that's what we are looking for."
They had found the machines.
to be continued~
Well, well, so far everything went awfully smooth don't you think? C: But no worries, things are about to get pretty ugly C: C: C: