Day 351, 7:00 AM
Gas station
Even though they made camp in a cave, Deku and Kaminari decided to stay at the gas station for tonight, if only because it was warmer than sleeping in a cold cave at night. Even with all the thick blankets they brought, they still could not shake out the ice-cold feeling of the cool air hitting them from all corners and all directions of the caves. So they opted to sleep in the employee's lounge at the gas station for the night and planned to return in the morning. As much as they wanted to stay, it would've been taxing keeping up with security as gas stations are still sought after because most gas stations had gas pumps still operating and still running fuel, making it highly likely they'd encounter another survivor shortly and as much as they wanted the company, they also didn't want to take any chances with survivors.
Not after what happened with the Bystanders several months ago.
After waking up early in the morning, the two of them stretch before yawning the rest of their drowsiness away. They carefully pull the bookshelf blocking the door away and step outside after making sure the coast is clear.
Sighing heavily, Kaminari heads over to the front doors and flips the 'Closed' sign to 'Open'. He removes the shelves from the door before stepping outside and breathing in some fresh air.
Ahh, the sweet smell of nothing with a little odor of gasoline thrown along the way; I'll never forget that smell.
Kaminari looks down both roads. This gas station was in the suburbs but it was surrounded in all directions by thick green trees that only seemed to look more aggressive now that nature was starting to overtake the land again. Also, the only road doesn't have a car within sight for kilometers and there wasn't a single sound of a bird chirping in the distance. The only thing they did find in the back was a car but they decided to search it in the morning when there's plenty of light out so there's no surprises.
Kaminari heads to the back of the gas station to find the car parked behind a dumpster with the windows fogged up. Reaching the driver's side, he removes his knife before tapping the window, seeing if any zombies were inside. Getting no response, he smashes the window with his elbow and winces. Luckily, he was wearing his jacket so the glass didn't break any of his bare skin.
Carefully peeking inside, there are no signs of any corpse inside but the smell of one nearly makes him vomit.
"Man, that reeks," he groans.
Unlocking the door from the window, he pulls the driver's door open and looks inside. He opens the glove compartment and causes several files and registration forms to spill out. He searches the glove compartment for a few more seconds before giving up. That left only the console where there's usually some stash of emergency napkins or candy. He was hoping for the latter more than the former but he'll take anything.
As his hand grabs the console and his fingers make contact with the release button, the foul odor of a corpse hits him again and he manages to trace the source to the backseat...
... where a bloody car seat for a newborn baby sits.
Gasping silently, he backs away from the car, abandoning the console until he is ten feet away from the vehicle.
A baby. A baby died in that car and... a baby was eaten in that car.
He shakes his head.
No, don't let this distract you. Search the car, Denki, and search every part of the car.
He pulls up his mask, hoping it will help with the smell and he pulls down his blue sunglasses, hoping by some miracle, it'll block the baby car seat from his peripheral vision.
He finally makes it back to the car and reaches in. Ejecting the console open, he looks through it. Surely enough, he finds two pieces of emergency napkins and lays them down on the seat. Looking through more of the console, he finds a wedding ring, a cigarette lighter, and a pearl necklace. Smiling, he pockets the pearl necklace before searching through the lower compartment of the console. Inside, he finds a bottle of hand sanitizer, several rubber bands, and concert tickets for some music group.
Only one place left to check.
He pops the trunk via the button and heads to the back.
Opening the trunk, he jumps back with his heart nearly leaping out of his stomach.
Inside the trunk was a dead body with a noose around the neck and the limbs bound around the wrists and ankles by clothes that were once white now brown. The body showed signs of decay and given the skeletal status of the body, the person in the trunk had been dead since the beginning of the outbreak. Chargebolt stabs the corpse in the brain just to be sure.
I have to look inside.
He grabs the corpse by the shoulders and hauls him out. The torso of the skeleton disconnects from the rest of the body with a crunch louder than Chargebolt's heartbeat.
Dropping the corpse and wincing in disgust, he wipes his hands off the knees of his pants before looking in the trunk. He pulls the rest of the skeleton out piece by piece before he has enough room to look inside.
He finds several shoe boxes inside as well as old CDs but no food. He wasn't surprised; why would he find food in a trunk? This was a kidnapping vehicle; there wasn't going to be anything useful for him in the trunk, especially since the person left in the trunk was dead. Then again, it's possible they lived in the trunk for a while before perishing.
Kaminari didn't care to find out and simply searched the rest of the trunk. He gathers all the shoeboxes and takes the ones that still have the product inside. He finds a trash bag in the very back and opens it. An old box of Jenga was inside, collecting dust, and just waiting to be played.
12:00 PM
With the tower falling once again, Deku and Kaminari laugh as they clean up the blocks and get ready to play another round.
"Who knew that the apocalypse could be so fun?" Kaminari asks sarcastically. "How often can you build a Jenga tower and not cringe when it falls over?"
Deku places the first piece. "Yeah, I guess. Did you find anything else in the car?"
"It was a kidnapping vehicle," Kaminari shrugs as he places his piece. "Found two corpses in the car. One was in the trunk and the other was a baby in a car seat in the back."
"Oh my god." Deku places his piece. "That's something we're still not used to seeing."
"Yeah."
Deku checks his watch before looking over the left. Their makeshift stove for boiling water in a pot finishes steaming. Deku heads over and carefully pours the water into a cup. "Now we just gotta wait for the water to cool down before we drink it."
The makeshift stove was simply a small fireplace with a very small spark that Deku controlled every now and then to keep from getting out of control and burning the place. The fire was lit under a girl and the pot was on top, full to the brim with water they collected.
It usually took thirty minutes for the water to cool to room temperature.
"You know, since the grill is still on, why don't we heat up some of our MREs?" Kaminari suggests after placing his piece. "There's some good ramen we can share."
Deku looks over, smiling. "Yeah, that sounds like a good idea, Kaminari. Have at it."
"Sure thing." Kaminari crawls to his side on his knees and pulls out an MRE. He removes a packet full of ramen and rips it open. Deku uses a spork he found on one of the shelves to carefully scoop up the boiling water spoonful by spoonful and pours it into the packet. Once the packet reaches maximum liquid capacity, Kaminari seals the bag shut at the top and shakes it, making sure to heat up every fiber of space in the bag so eh noodles come out all soft and warm. After a few seconds, he decides he's done and opens the bag,
"Who's up for ramen?"
"I am." Deku goes first and takes a spoonful with the spork before sighing happily. "Ahh, so warm."
Kaminari takes the spork and has a sporkful of his own. "Man, so sweet, kinda like how Mom used to heat."
"Was your mother a wonderful cook?"
"Yeah, she was."
"You know, Denki, you never talked much about your family when we were in school. The only time I remember you talking about your parents is when Mr. Aizawa had us write those letters of appreciation to our parents and have us read them to our parents in class." He laughs. "Man, I miss Mr. Aizawa's weird teaching habits."
"I know. I also kinda miss his scarf. I know it was just a scarf but it was kinda cool."
"Man. It's been a while since we've seen a pro."
"Hey, I'm sure we'll meet another pro, soon."
"Let's hope so. Remember Day 1? How so many pros?"
"That's because these zombies caught them off-guard. Once they see through their tricks, more pros will come out alive." Kaminari takes another spoonful. "Hey, how much do you wanna better that Mr. Aizawa is still alive?"
Deku shrugs. "What is there to bet with?"
Kaminari pulls out the pearl necklace. "I found this in the car in the back of the gas station. It looks pretty, right? If you win, you can have this and then you can give it to your girlfriend."
Deku blushes slightly. "I don't have a girlfriend, Kaminari."
"Not even Uraraka?"
Deku's blush deepens. "Even so, we were banished, and... it's not like we'll see them again. Besides, how are we supposed to know if Mr. Aizawa is alive."
Kaminari loses his smile. "Yeah, you're right." Instead of pocketing the necklace, he reaches over and puts it in his backpack. As he pulls his backpack toward him, something falls out. Aside from the MREs, the military pack also had some kind of note inside. After putting the pearls away, the electric boy picks up the note and studies it. "Huh."
Deku peeks over but can't see so much as a letter. "What's it say?" When he leans over and gets a better view, he sees a jumble of letters and tries to rearrange them backward so he can read from his perspective but it still comes out a jumbling sentence.
"Hold on, I can read this." Kamiarni clears his throat loudly and reads.
Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn.
Deku cocks his head. "Eh?"
The electric boy shrugs. "Eh, I don't know either. It's just some jumble of letters. It looks kinda familiar though. Huh." He repeats the words aloud and tries to look for anything that may seem familiar but nothing comes to mind. "Eh, I guess it doesn't matter." He folds the note and puts it back in his backpack. He sits crisscrossed across Deku, who copies him and simply shrugs. "Do you have a plan, Deku? I mean, are we just going to live on the road?"
Deku hesitates to answer. "I don't know. We'll figure it out. There's gotta be somewhere else. There just has to be. There's gotta be someone else out. Maybe a community taking in survivors, something, I don't know. We'll figure it out."
A thought crosses the electric boy's mind and he decides to say it aloud. "Do you think anyone from our class is looking for us?"
Deku looks at him but is unable to answer so Kaminari continues.
"If by some miracle they found us and they told us we're going back with them... should we go or... or stay out here?"
With Bakugou
"We're not going back until we bring them home," Balugou reminds himself for the umpteenth time. "Those bastards are coming home with us, one way or another."
Kirishima approaches him. "I'm glad we're on the same page, man, but don't you think that we should look out for ourselves first? If we can't get more supplies or anything, then we're as good as dead."
Mina approaches. "Yeah. Let's go back to the dorms and we'll see if we can get supplies from Kendo."
Bakugou continues to shake his head. "We're only going back after we bring Deku and Sparky back, no exception. We're not going back, even for supplies. Besides, it wouldn't be right to take supplies they're using to stay alive at the dorms with us on the outside. Besides, we have a goldmine of supplies right here."
He gestures to the car graveyard on the highway.
Shinsou walks forward and surveys the area. "I agree. We'll scavenge what we can from here. All these cars... there's bound to be something useful. We should start looking."
"This is a graveyard," Mina gulps. "I don't know how I feel about this."
Kirishima looks at her. "She's gotta a point. I mean, looting from an empty store is one thing but looting from a graveyard... I don't know."
Bakguou scoffs. "It's either that or we go hungry." He puts on his domino mask. "Masks on, just in case."
Shinsou follows his example and dons his Persona Chords mask.
For the past week or so, the Bakusquad had been moving away from the suburbs after scouring the area and finding no sign of Kaminari's house. Even though they spent days searching the neighborhood, there was no sign of them so it was like they were trying to take potshots in the dark. When everyone wanted to turn back and head to the Heights Alliance, Bakugou insisted. They weren't going back without that green-haired bastard and that electric what's-his-name kid and that was final. He knew that he was taking a risk but he also promised Kendo and everyone else that he would bring Dkeu and Kaminari back without losing a single member of his squad and he intended to honor that promise.
After leaving the neighborhood, they decided that Deku and Kaminari wouldn't stay in the suburbs because the suburbs were slowly but surely about to be flooded with zombies so moving outward was their only shot. That's when they stumbled upon this graveyard of cars on the freeway, the same freeway people were taking to get out of the city during the early days of the outbreak. The cars spanned several miles as far as the eye could see and just to their south was the city. It was shrinking in the distance but it was still within view. So close, yet so far.
Now was the time to stock up on supplies and food possible.
Kirishima and Mina put on their masks and trail after them. "Hey," Red Riot begins, "are you Reply or Retort this time?"
Shinsou hesitates. "Both Reply and Retort sound good. I guess, for now, I'll be... Retort."
"You're not going to change your name on us again, are ya, Reply?"
"It's Retort, Red Riot."
"Okay, just making sure, man."
"Good," Pinky sighs. "Just to make sure there's no confusion."
"No confusion."
With their masks on, Ground Zero steps forward and searches through the SUVs. He comes across a gray one and breaks the window. He reaches inside to find a camping bag. Taking it out, he opens it.
"Score."
He pulls out a first-aid kit and puts it in his backpack. "Good, this will make up for lost time."
Red Riot smashes a window with his elbow of a two-seater and reaches inside. Nothing but a pack of cigarettes was inside so he left it.
Pinky removes a jerry can and a hose from her backpack. She opens the gas tank of a car and tries to siphon gas out. Nothing, no gas. She tries with another car and manages to siphon some gas and fill the jerrycan halfway before the car runs on empty.
Retort looks at her. "What's the gas for?"
"In case we need gas that doesn't involve cars."
"Good idea. I'll help you."
"Good. We'll leave the supply running to the big guys."
Ground Zero and Red Riot come across a water delivery truck. They break open the side doors and gasp upon seeing several five-gallon water bottles inside.
"Yes," Red Riot cries before removing a cap carefully lifting it over his head, and pouring it on him. "Man, it's like a shower."
Ground Zero snatches the five-gallon water bottle and pours it on himself next. "Finally, something good."
They put the bottle down when half of the water is gone before they begin to drink straight from the bottle. After replenishing themselves and getting their bodies hydrated once again, Ground Zero pants before calling over the other two. Without asking, Ground Zero and Red Riot shower Pinky and Retort with water.
"Nice," Pinky moans. "So nice."
"It's been too long," Retort grunts, "since we had a shower."
"And it's starting to get hot," Red Riot reminds them.
"Duh, idiots," Ground Zero growls. "It's either June or July if it's almost been one year." Ground Zero removes several empty water bottles from his backpack before filling them with water. He stuffs them back in his bag before zipping it up. "Come on, guys, there's gotta be something around here that's useful."
Without needing any more words, they step through the car graveyard with the angry pomeranian warning them to be on the lookout for any zombies.
Retort opens a car door by using the handle and a zombie falls out. Retort backs away but with the zombie on the ground, he stomps on his head, smashing it. "Fuck you." He reaches inside, mindful to be careful of what he touches since the zombie's been decaying in this car since Day 1, literally. He opens the backseat to remove several blankets folded neatly in the back. Something falls out of the blankets.
A revolver.
Picking up the revolver, he checks the chambers and sees that it's fully loaded. Six bullets. Looking inside the car, he doesn't see any kind of ammo kit so that leaves them with six bullets and six bullets only. Tucking the revolver away, he loots the zombie but comes up empty-handed.
Up ahead, Pinky looks inside the back of a pickup truck and finds what looks like a cooler of some kind. Opening the cooler, she sees several packs of expired sushi and groans. "Uneatable." Before she could groan again in annoyance, the soft humming sound of a radio makes hairs prick up. A radio?
Looking over, she sees Ground Zero playing with a radio in his hand and adjusting the knobs to try and get a clear signal.
"I found it in one of the trucks," the explosive boy explains. "I can't believe it's still working."
"Help- is on- safe- take cover- find shelter- alive- they are all dead - me."
When he finally finds a station, he adjusts the dials again to try and get a read on what the radio is broadcasting.
Red Riot stands by his side. "What station is that, man?"
"I'm not sure."
"Do you think someone is still alive out there?"
"Yeah. If the radio is on, then there's someone out there. A survivor is broadcasting on this channel."
"Midoriya?"
Ground Zero puts his ear to the speaker and listens carefully. Pulling back, he shakes his head. "No, not Deku's voice. But if the radio is still working..." He opens the back and removes the batteries. "I don't know what these batteries are made of but if they're still working after one year... we're keeping them."
"Hell yeah, man."
He pockets the batteries before moving forward.
When they clear one section of the car graveyard, they check their backpacks to see how much they can carry. They found some food in the cars along with supplies that could help them but aside from that, nothing else that could be of use or, at the very least, nothing that could fit in their bags. They decide their down searching the graveyard and move forward, cutting through the trees. And into the forest.
"Come on," Ground Zero orders. "We can make it through the freeway if we stick to the woods; less debris and less chances of running into a horde."
"There could be a horde in the trees," Retort points out.
"True but there's a lot of branches in the woods so sneaking up on us will be almost impossible. And we have the option of falling back onto the freeway if we have to run. And if zombies are coming in from the freeway, we can fall back into the forest and lose them there. It's been one year since anyone attended to these forests so they'll have been growing thicker as time goes by, perfect to hide or escape."
They just gotta keep moving forward.
Day 352, 7:00 AM
Waking up from his slumber once again, Kaminari sits up, feeling that he has to take a piss. He removes the barricade before stepping out the front doors. With no one in sight, he unzips his pants and passes near one of the gas pumps.
"My territory, dogs." He zips his pants up before heading back inside. As he steps through the front door, he pauses. What was that?
~rustling~
Looking over his shoulder, he looks into the trees in the distance and narrows his eyes. "Huh, what was that?" Surveying the area like a camera, he narrowed his eyes, hoping his vision could zoom in enough so he could see. He hoped he would spot whatever made that noise and soon because the unease was making him feel uncomfortable. Scratching the back of his head, he steps back inside before he lets his imagination run wild.
It was nothing, nothing.
9:30 AM
Bakugou may have to call for a bodyguard because his legs were killing him. Despite not wanting to lose a battle with his legs, he gives in and sits on a log. Kirishima sits beside him and rests his legs. Mina and Shinsou quickly follow their examples.
"We are getting nowhere," Kirishima groans. "Without knowing where to look, we're never going to find Deku and Kaminari. We need to think outside the box."
Bakugou looks at him. "How is your damn quirk going to help find anything?"
The manly man understands Bakugou and nods regretfully. "Yeah, I guess you're right. But still..."
"Should we go back to the suburbs?" Mina suggests. "I know it's a long shot but who knows if they're still there, right?"
"We would have to search every suburb," Bakugou reminds them. "Again, we have no idea where Kaminari's home is and we have no idea which neighborhood to search, and with all the zombies in the suburbs, searching those places will be dangerous." He rests his elbows on his knees. "But... I think it's worth to check again."
"By the way..." Shinsou begins in a whispering tone, "There's a store just a few kilometers from here."
The others look at him but Mina talks first. "How do you know?"
"My Mom used to drive me through this neighborhood when dropping me off at school; I remember seeing a store a few kilometers from here. If we're going into a zombie-infested neighborhood, it wouldn't hurt to be overprepared. If you want, I can show you where it is?"
True to his word, Shinsou leads the small group to a large store with a big parking lot. An empty parking lot, one that was dirty and showed some signs of nature overgrowing the stop signs. Clearly, no one had been around here for a few months at least. The sliding doors didn't open so Ground Zero and Red Riot pry the doors open.
"Come on," Ground Zero orders after stepping through and closing the doors. "Let's do a quick sweep of the area. Watch for zombies. We're going into a zombie-infested neighborhood so weapons should be your first priority. If you find food or medicine, that's a bonus."
CLANK!
The four of them jolt before pulling out their knives. Retort takes out his revolver and holds it up, pulling the hammer. He steps forward. Whatever made that noise was close and he felt more confident knowing that he may have the upper hand; he was armed with a gun after all.
Ground Zero steps forward and hides behind a food shelf. The inside of the store looked more like the inside of a factory than a store and the shelves didn't look up to code and seemed to be leaning over. Crouching behind a kiosk, Ground Zero peeks out to see a human-shaped object in the furthest corner of the store, grabbing cans of food off the shelves and packing them away.
That's when he gasps.
A survivor.