Chapter 95: New mission

The rattling sound of iron screeching along glass was what tore Karisawa from her dreams faster than any physical action could. Disorientation and adrenaline filled her mind quicker than the fear she was supposed to feel as she shot from the ground.

The mall. The priest. Them entering and taking turns to sleep. And the stares directed towards Karisawa, Namie and Vorona.

"What happened-" she whispered, but her voice failed her at the end as she had jerked up a bit too fast. The injury she had sustained to her neck had somewhat healed, but the tension and heat radiating off the spot was more than enough of a hint to keep it easy and steady.

It was Namie who entered her field of vision first as she rushed to her side. Knees hitting the floor she noticed Karisawa's discomfort and quickly reached out to keep the woman steady.

"All's good, just keep down," she whispered, and suddenly Karisawa saw them.

Izaya. Standing at the entrance to their bakery and the priest, facing him, among some other dedicated followers standing by.

A smile had drawn across his lips and he seemed awfully pleased by Karisawa's reaction.

"I believe you are all well enough?" he voiced aloud, and Namie showed a glare as Izaya took it upon himself to answer.

"Of course."

Kadota was up as well, not too far off from him and Shizuo's body had tensed too.

What the hell did he want?

"Good," the priest nodded and with a quick glance to the side he summoned the bastards that had shot Karisawa. "Shijima."

Moving forth like a dog that had been called by its name the guy in question started speaking with priorly given orders.

"We have a common issue, it's nothing grand, just an annoyance really." A map was tossed into Izaya's direction, and easily caught. "The circled area. It's infested with zombies, and no matter how many we lead to salvation, more and more keep coming."

Glancing at the paper in his hands Izaya frowned for a second.

A mission. Again? And so soon?

"They mostly likely know that their time has come and rely on us to take care of the rest," the priest continued spouting words of blasphemy on multiple levels and Izaya snorted.

"And you want us to take care of that from now on?" he concluded and the disgusting smile on the priest's face only grew that much broader.

"As usual you are reliably quick on the uptake," he whispered, and suddenly his gaze left Izaya. "Feel free to take whoever you please, albeit," he hesitated for a demonstrative moment as he nodded towards Karisawa. "Leaving behind those who are most injured would be the wisest option if you ask me."

Cold nausea instantly rushed down Karisawa's spine. The devoted followers standing by to act on the priest's orders were looking at her.

Smiling.

"I will be taking everyone," Izaya suddenly announced, cutting the edge of those avid stares as they frowned at him. "A project as grand as this with no experience demands flawless teamwork. Every pair of eyes added is only going to increase our chances of success and return," Izaya explained easily with no room to complain or argue.

A moment of silence filled the bakery and with dread. Because both options were bad.

Staying here made her guts churn enough as it was- but heading out to hunt zombies? With her body being in the state it was?

She was slow

not much more than bait, and Kadota too, with his shoulder- it had healed but the way it did…

"Very well," the priest finally shrugged and Karisawa stilled. "My left hand man will guide you outside," he added, and Shijima showed a fairly disappointed expression as he clicked his tongue.

It was Namie that tore Karisawa out of her thoughts and quickly grabbed her arm pull her off the ground.

Vorona too.

Joining immediately she was right next to Karisawa the moment they moved and her eyes focused on anything around them. As if she were ready to strike the second someone decided to act up.

Same for Kadota. Joining in the back he was making up the tail of their formation along with Shizuo.

And Izaya was in front. Following Shijima. The bastard who almost killed Karisawa in the first place.

Again they traversed the mall the same way they had the day before.

Stares were cast at them from all sides and Izaya hummed as he closed in on their guide.

"If you are the left then who is the right?" Izaya joked as soon as the priest was out of sight.

"You don't know?" Shijima scorned and rolled his eyes. "The guy you brought in yesterday."

Masaki?

Surprise called to Izaya's expression at this unexpected turn of events.

With the hatred he had shown he was either exceptionally good at acting to convince the priest of his devotion, or the priest was simply taking the saying of keeping your friends close but your enemies closer to heart.

"Talking about him, how is he?" The latter seemed to be true as Shijima's expression was taken up by annoyance.

"Hopefully dead," he mumbled, and the door leading to the outside opened.

Sunlight, exceptionally bright as it was reflected by a nearby glass panel, rushed to their faces and Izaya squinted ahead.

Their van was still where they left it.

Untouched it seemed.

"You have three days. Any longer than that and the zombies will start accumulating to a degree that can't be cleared anymore," Shijima announced as soon as the last member of their group exited the mall.

They were moving slowly.

Not only due to caution, but also for Karisawa's and Kadota's sake.

A glance was cast towards Shijima when the woman passed him and he grinned upon spotting the fear in her eyes.

"Wouldn't they head for the mall then?" Izaya threw in, but Shijima shrugged.

"Yup. They would gnaw us down to our very last bone," he announced and a grin grew on his face. "But no worries, we will offer your friend first as an appetizer."

Right.

Shinra.

They may have let them leave the mall, but they kept the ace up their sleeves.

"We will make sure to return in time then," Izaya smiled, and with that Shijima seemed to have finished his task as his lips mumbled a short, whatever, and steered back inside the mall.

The door closed quicker than expected and the unnerving silence of the outside took over the scene.

"... didn't think they would let us leave so soon." Vorona was the first to break it with a quiet whisper and Namie followed with anger.

"Bastards, threatening us with Shinra," she spat and Izaya sighed.

"Makes sense, they know we wouldn't just abandon him."

The map he had been given had not been unraveled once so far as Izaya wouldn't have wanted to keep his eyes off their surroundings for even a second.

But now there was time and so he looked at their future route.

"... Izaya," It was when he followed the trail of a main road that his name reached his ears and he lifted his head to look at Karisawa. A heavy amount of guilt, regret and gratitude swayed in her eyes as she frowned. "Thank you."

"For what?" he asked, albeit the answer was already clear to him. Karisawa wasn't stupid. She had obviously realized he had acted on her behalf.

"For taking me with you despite my uselessness," she whispered with the faintest hint of a smile.

And somehow- that was an expression he didn't quite want her to make.

"I wasn't lying when I said that every pair of eyes is precious on such a grand scale project," Izaya quickly shrugged as the woman refused to meet his gaze. And so he sighed.

And suddenly she found a hand patting her head. Smoothly, gentle. And Izaya sighed quietly. "As if I would leave you behind to be raped."

The wording was crude, and speaking aloud what exactly it was that these devote followers wanted to do to her anything but assuring, but still, she was glad.

"Let's go. We have three days. If this mission even exists," Vorona suddenly announced and Izaya nodded.

She was right.

As far as they knew it could be an impossible mission overall.

Something to get rid of them.

But it would be uncharacteristic, the entire act of letting them move into the mall and causing them to become part of the priest's force would have been in vain then.

"No. It's real," Izaya announced and moved over to the van. The map was thrown onto the headboard and he quickly slipped behind the steering wheel. "What are you waiting for? Get in."

Hesitation marked everyone's movement as they slowly approached the van. Thoughts of traps laid around their van or their so called mission seemed to circle everyone's minds.

The way Vorona janked the backdoor open as if she were expecting a flatworm to come rushing for her as soon as she did was equally funny as it was disturbing to watch from the rear mirror.

"And what if it's a trap?" Shizuo was the first to voice his worry as he slipped into the front of the van. "Not to kill us, but for something else?" he added as he pulled the door shut and Izaya hummed while starting the van.

"I'm curious, what would that be?"

The back was closed, the rest of the group gathered inside and without any further delay Izaya drove off into the direction of the highway leading them to their destination.

Gears were turning in Shizuo's mind as he tried to come up with a solid idea, but failed ultimately as he groaned.

"I don't know, you are the one used to scheming," he announced after a few minutes and Izaya snorted.

"We will have to see for ourselves then."

This was the one trait Shizuo disliked in Izaya. His secrecy. The way he knew exactly what was going on but refused to let anyone in on his insights.

It was as much amazing and practical as it was annoying and so he sighed as he looked out of the window.

Their surroundings were awfully peaceful. There was no flatworm or fungus in sight.

A minute passed, two, then three and Shizuo relished a bit in the short amount of peace they were offered.

"Did you sleep well?"

Izaya was the one to break it after a short while and Shizuo couldn't help but smile as he directed his gaze towards him.

"Is that an actual question or are you trying to figure something out?"

Izaya snorted. He definitely deserved that. But his intention had been genuine.

"An actual question. You have been skipping sleep a lot these days," he added and glanced over. "It's not healthy nor beneficial to any of us if you end up exhausting yourself."

Worry about him was pretty much the last thing Shizuo had expected at that moment, and somehow the act of doing so caused a smile to spread across Shizuo's face.

"Don't worry," he snorted and a mischievous expression made up his face as he hummed, "I'm as fit as I was when I crashed our car."

The insinuation was clear as daylight, and Izaya blinked before snorting with obvious amusement.

"Idiot."

He was talking about their intimate and inappropriate reaction to surges of unfiltered adrenaline. But at least the insinuation was clear. Shizuo was fine.

Probably better off than half the group.

Approaching their target Izaya suddenly spotted a few trees, orderly decorating the outside of a relatively large building.

"Shizuo," he called, and nodded ahead to steer his attention into the right direction.

He had seen the circled location on the map, but somehow not really paid a lot of attention to the inscriptions scattered around the area.

Izaya had expected some kind of barricade. Made even a pitfall, slowly piling up over the course of time.

The museum of music and arts was not quite what he had had in mind as well as the way it had been reshaped. Makeshift fences made up of wood and nails connected the outer bars of iron to the walls making up the building. Ladders, stuck to the top and fixated onto the windows were leading up to the roof quite in the same manner as they did back at the mall.

A guy stood atop the building, waving into their direction.

And suddenly Izaya remembered the shape of the old architecture and snorted.

"So that's why."

"What?" Shizuo asked and the van came to a quick standstill.

Sooner than expected Izaya slipped out of the vehicle and Shizuo quickly followed.

"They are exploiting the shape of the museum," he announced and Shizuo turned to look at the building ahead.

He had never quite gotten the chance to visit any of these.

People taking pictures where they were not allowed and chattering too loudly in a space that was supposed to be silent proved too many risk factors for Shizuo to enter with his patience being what it was.

By now Shizuo found himself realizing how those traits of his had changed. It wasn't quite as if he had learned to control his anger, but more like he chose the right outlets for it to dissipate.

And with Izaya suddenly on his side and being less of an annoying flea, more than half of his usual triggers had disappeared from one moment to the next.

Opening the back of the van, Vorona was the first to emerge with vigilant eyes, then Kadota and Karisawa with Namie close by her side.

It was when Izaya stood with his hands in his hips looking towards the sky that their gazes followed his direction until they spotted a figure climbing down the ladder of the building.

The descent took him maybe two minutes at most and with a beaming expression void of any suspicions he smiled at the freshly arrived group.

"You are the new members?"

He was young.

Awfully young.

Maybe fifteen. Or younger.

The freckles on his face were the same color as his brown eyes and hazelnut short hair. Military clothes, untypical for a child his age, hung from his body in an attempt to make him seem capable and well prepared. A shotgun was resting in his arms as he approached Izaya with the joy of a child having found someone to play hide and seek with.

"A child?" Karisawa whispered quietly and Izaya's eyes narrowed.

Smart.

Not many would purposely kill a child.

The priest knew exactly what he was doing by installing this boy here.

"Can you brief us?" Izaya asked, and the boy seemed to remember his duty as he smiled and quickly saluted in what appeared to be a game to him.

"Right, follow me please."

to be continued~

Aw damn this chapter ended up being a little longer than expected xD Guess you will have to wait for the surprise until next friday hahaha