Chapter 76: Healthy Insanity
Creepy was probably not the adjective Vorona wanted herself to be described with as soon as she woke up from her unconscious state.
A glare set in her eyes as soon as she recognized the voice speaking.
Since the last time she had seen Izaya was when Namie had tried to kill him for potentially carrying the virus, her attitude was anything but positive towards him.
"Hey, how are you feeling?" It was Kadota who had asked the question, quickly moving over to the blonde's side.
But instead of an answer he received nothing but a retch. Leaning over with the intention to talk, instant nausea crashed Vorona's plans as she threw up on the spot.
Mild disgust displayed on Kadota's face as he tried to at least somehow keep Vorona's hair out of her face.
"Ah, yes. That's what a concussion does to you." Izaya announced completely unaffected and grabbed a bin not too far from the desk.
Knees touched the ground and he shoved the object into her hands.
"Does your head hurt?"
A glare was shot at the raven almost immediately as Vorona held onto the bin for dear life.
"What kind of dumb question is that?" She was holding up better than expected, but she was no super human.
Sweat stood on her forehead and her breathing came shallow in order to suppress the still raging nausea. No matter how much she tried to act unaffected, Izaya knew better than to buy her words.
This was not the time for superfluous resistance called by pride.
"One that aims to find out just how serious the damage to your brain is," Izaya informed, quick and cold. Just as Shinra would when analyzing a patient's condition.
No smiles, no mischief, no hints of jokes lingered in his eyes or words for once.
It was a sight that was quite rare, even to those he knew best among this small group and despite being close to a stranger Vorona seemed to understand that he was not going to deal with any bullshit answers right now.
"... it hurts," she whispered reluctantly, biting down any words of bile.
"Stabbing pain? Thrumming pain? An odd sensation between your eyes? Your neck?" Izaya wasn't a doctor, at least not like Shinra, but one of the very first actions he had taken upon witnessing the end of their civilization was brushing up his knowledge on basic injuries.
Cuts, broken bones, concussions. Anything easily obtained from falling, being hit or stabbed. It was the only reason why he was able to assess his own injury back at the hospital when that nightly creature crushed his rib.
Thinking back now it came close to a miracle that he survived that one.
"The first one," Vorona answered after a few seconds in which she tried to localize the pain.
A quick nod was given, and a set of worries ditched aside. Stabbing pain was better than one in the neck. Moving his palm he reached out for Vorona's head, before pausing midway. "May I?"
Had she not been suffering from nausea as much as she was at the moment Vorona would have probably laughed. Instead her voice was the only indicator of amusement as she raised her brow. "You are asking?"
"I saw you take out that hoe on the bridge. I'm not stupid enough to touch you without consent when you are awake."
A sour expression drew across Vorona's face. "... that implies you would touch me without consent if I were unconscious."
Izaya snorted. "... well, I mean." He didn't need to spell the rest of his words as the woman filled in the rest herself.
But even in her state of injury she seemed to understand the need to be treated and surpassed the one to shove Izaya as far away as possible.
Nodding quietly, she gave Izaya the sign to proceed.
Nimble fingers trailed across the graze the bullet had left. The bleeding had finally stopped and the grotesque sight of clots of blood connected by strings of hair covered the area.
Cleaning the wound should be a number one priority, but with Vorona already having lost an undefined amount of blood Izaya wasn't too willing to tear that wound open again.
Leaving off her, Izaya leant back and raised his index finger to Vorona's face. Slowly, as if trying to tell a child off he moved it left to right. "Follow it."
The order caused Vorona to cringe. "Are you making fun of me?" she hissed, but Izaya remained awfully stoic.
"No, just checking for abnormal jerky eye movements."
It was funny, but at that moment, when Izaya said those words he seemed just so much like Shinra that she couldn't help but shut up and do as told. A few nods were given to himself as Izaya analyzed what he was seeing and after a few seconds of uncomfortable silence Vorona's eyes traveled across the room.
She could see everyone, except for one.
"... why are you the one doing this? Where is Shinra? What happened to Jo's hoes?" her whisper had been quiet, as if she weren't too sure if she even wanted to receive an answer.
"Karisawa asked the same," Kadota threw in and Vorona blinked mildly surprised.
"Karisawa?" Looking towards the bed she had of course noticed the woman who was still laying there, but the fact that she had actually regained consciousness had slipped her attention.
Namie was kneeling next to her. Now raising from the ground she grasped her upper arm in what appeared to be an action of comfort as she relayed the current situation.
"Jo's hoes are gone. Izaya managed to lure them away. But they got Shinra as a hostage. We are trying to get him back as we speak." Guilt layered each of her words heavily and had it been some other time, one where they weren't pressured by an impending deadline, Izaya might have pulled an effort to correct her wrong assessment of the situation.
But not now.
"...fuck." Vorona cursed in response and suddenly pushed at the ground calling a very annoyed frown to Izaya's face. "Ah. No. You will sit like a good dog, alright?" he quickly ordered and pushed her back down by her shoulder. Dazed as she was, she had no choice but to let it happen, but glared at Izaya for interrupting her movement. "From what I can tell you were lucky enough to only suffer a mild concussion. But moving around will worsen that real quick. Even you should know that staying still would be wiser at this point in time."
Clicking her tongue Vorona frowned in disagreement. "We need to get Shinra back."
A valid argument, for both her condition as well as their team.
"And we will in due time," Izaya assured and even Namie seemed supportive for once.
"I know he is a bastard, but for now he is right," she agreed, and finally Vorona relaxed.
"Alright."
It came in handy that she had the hots for Izaya's secretary. The untameable woman was awfully obedient when it came to her.
"Good, now that this topic is solved," Izaya clapped his hands and rose from the ground. A smile was cast towards Shizuo as he pointed towards the door. "Shizuo if you would?"
Springing to his feet, Kadota was the first to announce his support.
"Do you need help?"
His altruism was really admirable, but misplaced.
"As the only one left to guard I would prefer if you just wrapped things up here," Izaya quickly explained and Kadota's eyes roamed the library.
Right.
Namie and him were the only people left to defend if anything were to happen, like a zombie sneaking into the school building.
A solemn expression made up his face as he gave a serious nod.
"Alright."
With Jo's hoes around intending to add their group to their workforce Izaya doubted anything was going to happen in the first place.
Their leader had given simple and direct orders and for better or worse they seemed to follow those to the letter.
Was it the charisma? The belief? Fear?
Izaya couldn't tell, all he knew when stepping outside the school building was the presence of the priest's people, hiding in various shadows nearby.
Three, maybe five? Izaya couldn't tell, but he recognized the feeling of being watched.
They had an hour at most to get what they needed before they had to move out to their assigned location.
Moving past a pile of rubbish that once resembled a car, Izaya moved down the street.
"Are you alright?"
Shizuo had followed him just as Izaya had asked him to, but the question came as a surprise.
Stopping amidst the street they were walking down, Izaya turned to face the blond.
"Why would I not be?" He wasn't injured nor had he suffered from an onslaught of panic like various times before.
To Izaya the question seemed unjustified and Shizuo snorted.
"Right, you are probably enjoying this shit, aren't you?"
Ah.
He was talking about their current predicament.
A smile spread across Izaya's lips and he shrugged.
"It makes for a fun event, don't you think?"
A fun event.
Had Shizuo heard those words before he would have doubted Izaya's sanity. He would have gotten mad and asked him what the hell was wrong with him.
But after having spent so much time with the flea he knew better than to judge.
Izaya was just Izaya. When others were crippled with fear he chose to enjoy what was left. And he was right, because what use was it to get depressed over unchangeable facts?
Right now wasn't it the best mindset to have?
"So? Where is the camper you saw?" Shizuo asked instead and Izaya pointed onward.
"Down the road actually." Continuing his path Izaya cautiously proceeded. Cars had been turned over, corpses started to rot and blood stains formerly bright red had turned to the color of brown dirt. The fact that none of the culprits responsible for these deaths was present nagged a little at Izaya's consciousnesses.
"I saw it when we headed out earlier, but didn't really pay it any mind," he spoke softly, giving his best to not draw any unwanted attention.
"But you still remember?"
"Of course," Izaya shrugged and raised the tip of his finger to his temple. "Everything I see is saved up here, ready to be recalled at any time."
Shizuo shook his head softly.
Izaya was amazing. In his own unique ways.
"And you are sure you aren't suffering from any mental illness?" he joked and the smile Izaya wore curled into one of mischief.
"Even if I were, I like me the way I am best."
It was then that the sound of groaning caught both's attention. Concrete moved and dust sprinkled forth from the shadow of a collapsed shop window.
It was a zombie. Not the fast kind, but a mere shroom. Tugging at the piece of concrete forcing the creature to the ground it tried to move, but to no avail.
It was trapped, and Izaya was relieved.
Feeling his body lose the tension it had immediately recalled he approached the victim of the raging virus.
The fact that this kind of zombie was no threat to his body was incredibly assuring, because even if he were bitten, the virus wouldn't affect him.
Shizuo seemed far more relaxed too as he watched Izaya circle the threat.
His lips moved and Izaya saw the next question coming quicker than Shizuo spoke.
"... this anti-"
"Shizuo."
Interrupted quickly and with a certain kind of vehemence, Izaya looked at the blond before approaching him with quick steps. An ambiguous smile was worn on his lips and the blond hesitated.
Arms circled Shizuo's neck quicker than expected as Izaya leaned into his ear.
"We don't know whether we are being overheard, so the word you were about to say is taboo, alright? At least for the time being." The words were nothing but a quiet whisper and as quickly as they resounded the raven leant back.
"If you have any questions, you better ask them like this."
Nose to nose and eyes brilliantly close Izaya was closer than ever and Shizuo couldn't help but feel the corner of his lips tug upwards.
A sight like this? Not too bad.
"I think I'm full of questions," he whispered back and Izaya blinked before accepting the tease as a compliment.
"Idiot."
Shizuo's forehead was given a quick flick and with the elegance of a hummingbird, Izaya backed off and returned to their current path on the road.
"It should be around here," he announced without batting an eyelid and slipped into an alley to the right.
Following right up Shizuo was presented with what they had been looking for.
A camper.
No second was wasted and Izaya quickly steered to the back of the vehicle.
It was locked. Just as the Blood donation van had been.
Brushing across the dirty surface of the handle Shizuo gave it a preemptive tug. "Want me to tear the back open?"
Izaya shook his head, "Not this time, I would like for this vehicle to stay intact."
Quickly moving around he searched for keys dropped nearby, or a corpse holding some, but his eyes rewarded him with something even better.
"We are lucky," Izaya announced and steered into the opposite direction of the camper.
"What?" Eyes following Shizuo watched the raven as he entered the front of an abandoned store. Clothes and accessories had been thrown to the ground and it barely looked decent anymore.
Fishing for a hanger resting on the ground, Izaya gave it a quick whack with his leg before tearing it off the ground.
It was only when Izaya hoisted himself up by the driver's side mirror that Shizuo noticed the small gap in the driver's window.
The metal slipped inside faster than he was able to join as Izaya's lips curled into a pleased smile.
"Jackpot."
Springing open like a fresh serving of popcorn, the door unhinged from its place and Izaya slipped into the driver's seat. He hadn't had a chance to look for the key as the keyhole's sight was angled too hard to see, but now that he sat in place he was very pleased to find that it had been left behind.
The simple press of a button was enough and the back of the car sprang open.
to be continued~
I hope this part didn't end up too boring xD It feels like this scene is taking a whole lot longer than expected haha But I promise as soon as we arrive at the Jo's hoes' base things will kick up a notch again xDDDD