Chapter 84: Welcome back
Had she changed her opinion on Izaya? No.
Had she forgiven him for killing her brother? Definitely not.
And yet as Namie reached for the unbelievable soft teddy bear she couldn't help but miss the animosity she usually felt towards this bastard of a man. The plush animal was warm from the rays of sunlight that had touched its fur during sunrise and despite her age, holding something soft and soothing like this in her arms actually served a calming effect.
It was natural. Probably.
And for a moment Namie found herself missing times as easy as this. Where holding a plush animal was all it took to wipe away her fears.
Stupid thoughts. Altogether.
They weren't productive, they weren't helpful to their current situation. And yet looking at Izaya smiling like a retard while trying to find a fitting name for his ray she couldn't help but relax.
"Suit yourself." She mumbled and stepped away from the pharmacy.
The next step was an easy one to figure out even for her. Get back. They had attained their bear, they had attained whatever exactly it was that Izaya was planning, so now with the sun providing a steady countdown they had to turn up before the priest.
A car not too far away found Namie's attention first. It had clearly suffered some kind of accident as there were marks all around and two windows smashed in. But there was no oil to be spotted on the side, no gasoline either. She suspected it might be still intact to drive and so she slipped past the open door and under the driver's seat.
Shizuo was still at Izaya's side.
Holding the wooden plank stained with blood close he seemed ready to kill another of these creatures should it appear as he watched Izaya circle to one of the many shelves inside the pharmacy.
"Namie. Painkillers, which would you take?" he suddenly yelled from afar and the woman jerked in the midst of hotwiring the car she had found.
"Can you be any louder?" she hissed, arguably in a similar volume but Izaya merely shrugged and she sighed. "As long as you don't take Aspirin or anything containing acetylsalicylic acid it should be fine," she answered quickly while cursing the cables she had found underneath the driver's seat.
She had never really done this before, only seen Izaya do it once or twice. She thought it would be easy, and asking for help was out of the question, but right now she found herself looking at already opened plastic panels and five cables that she couldn't quite differentiate at all. Someone must have hotwired this car before and driven here. Part of them were cut, part of them were insulated and as smart and knowledgeable as she was, she had no clue of cars. Not to mention their interior working systems.
"Because?" Izaya suddenly called from afar and the woman groaned as she rolled her eyes. "They dilute blood. And seeing how prone we are all to getting injured I would rather not have you increasing the risk of bleeding to death," she quickly responded- and paused. Turning her head she looked at Izaya.
Climbing past the broken door he reappeared from inside the shop with both his ray as well as she desired painkillers and for just a moment Namie frowned and her voice lacked the usual spite it held.
"Are you in pain?"
It was a serious question. A simple one. One that she shouldn't even care to ask, and the rarity of it showed on Izaya's expression. But gladly he didn't choose it as an instigation for another set of teases and so he simply shook his head.
"They are not for me."
Ah.
Karisawa?
Namie wasn't quite sure how, or why, but somehow the second the young woman appeared in her mind she knew she was right. Izaya was fetching those painkillers for her so she would have an easier time healing.
Leaning against the driver's door, Namie pointed towards the steering wheel.
"We should get back. Would you?" She announced, swallowing her pride as she realized how long a single night could be when it came to injuries.
Shizuo, Izaya and her were fine, but who said the same applied to Karisawa, Vorona and Shinra?
Especially Shinra was at the heart of danger and wasting any more time on useless banters or shows of capability wouldn't benefit any of them.
Glancing towards the already unscrewed plastic cap and the cables ready to be abused, Izaya only showed a quick amused glance towards the woman, before bending down.
"As you wish." No pun was used, no sarcastic comment followed and within a laughable period of two minutes the car's engine was roaring and Namie had slipped into the driver's seat.
Just when and how they had all voted to assign Namie the duty of being their personal driver was a riddle to Izaya, but right now he found himself actually not caring as the car slowly rolled off the street.
The backdoor windows were still broken and a gentle breeze combed through the jagged outlines.
The sensation was pleasant. Even more so with both the teddy bear and the ray sitting next to Izaya and serving as quite the comfortable pillow. After all, right now there was nothing to fear in broad sunlight. Not even Jo's hoes, as they were currently on a mission given by them.
"Just so we are clear, we got the bear yesterday evening, but spent the night at a pharmacy after encountering some zombies and could only move on after sunrise," Izaya quickly summarized while playing with the ray's tail.
"What do you take me for?" Namie snorted, already having concluded as much by herself.
"That's also the story we will tell the rest of our group," Izaya added, causing confusion in only Shizuo's mind as he turned in his seat. He had gotten into the back as well. Mainly because the front passenger seat was sullied in guts from the previous owner.
"Why?" he asked, and Izaya hummed while drawing circles into the orange colored ray's fur. "The less they know the better," he simplified his idea and Namie nodded as she drove onto the highway leading to Jo's hoes base.
"He is right," she agreed and for a moment Izaya found himself smiling at the unexpected support.
"First apologizing, now agreeing, are you sure you are Namie?" he cooed from the back and the woman rolled her eyes at him through the rear window.
"Shut up."
More insults came to mind quicker than the road lights void of life passed their car, but the time for those had passed as the woman spotted the first of their new frenemies.
She could see them on top of the roofs. Behind parked cars.
Sure, now that the sun was rising these bastards were crawling out of their damned mall like the zombies didn't even exist.
Grasping the steering wheel a bit tighter, Namie took a deep breath as she slowed down.
She could already see the camper they had left behind the day before.
Karisawa, Kadota, Vorona. Were they still in there? Were they okay? What about themselves? If Jo's hoes had already killed them, then what would they do once Izaya and Shizuo left the car?
Worries that the woman had suppressed until this point suddenly welled up in her throat and she held her breath as she stopped the car.
She didn't want to get out. She wanted to press the gas and race off from this god damn forsaken place.
But she knew she couldn't do that, and her body flinched when the backdoor to the car shut.
Izaya had gotten out of it.
Tension high and unsure of what was going to happen she followed his steps.
The teddy bear was resting in his left hand and the ray in his right.
Only now, when she looked at Izaya properly did she notice how worn out he seemed, especially compared to Shizuo. Tired and just as endangered as everyone else. So far Namie had never really considered Izaya's point of view, or condition whatsoever. She always thought he was like a cockroach.
Never going to die no matter what.
But somehow, at that moment she suddenly found herself feeling a certain type of fear.
"Yo. We have what you asked of us, get your leader," Izaya yelled, and slowly but surely they started to appear. The priest's lambs. Spiked with artillery of various kinds they filled the rims of the roof and aimed at whoever it was that dared to approach their hideout.
It was a precaution. Probably.
But Namie froze nonetheless as she suddenly realized that even Izaya would die once he was shot.
Quicker than Namie, Shizuo slipped out of the car and followed Izaya. Almost like a watchdog following his owner he glared at anyone present and Namie couldn't help but admire his guts for even managing to get out of the car.
She remained. Unable to move and frozen to the steering wheel.
Eyes circling their surroundings Izaya looked towards the camper. He could see the backside and most of the front. It didn't seem like anyone had tried to force their way inside while they were gone and the weight in his chest lifted.
"Good morning everyone. I hope you had a good night?" Finally having appeared up front Izaya turned his gaze towards the mall's roof.
There he was. The priest.
As enigmatic and boisterous as he remembered. Clothes too clean and holy to be deserved, decorated his presence and he raised his arms as if he were in the midst of a god damn hour of prayer.
"A fantastic one," Izaya announced loudly and tossed the bear towards the mall.
Dirt and dust stuck to its fur immediately but the priest didn't even bat an eyelid at the action.
One of the guards designated to his protection climbed down the ladder upon a simple nod from the priest and inspected the bear upon arrival.
A quick nod was given towards the bastard and the priest smiled. "And a successful one I see."
"Does this mean we accomplished our mission?" Izaya asked, hoping the answer would be yes, but he was more than ready to act if it was not. Because this bastard wasn't obliged to keep his word in any way.
Climbing back up Izaya seemed to be on a waiting list when it came to answers and attention as the bear was brought over.
Grasping the stuffed animal as if Izaya had delivered something of greatest importance the priest merely hummed, with a soft nod to his expression as he looked at it. "Certainly," he agreed, and suddenly tossed the bear across his shoulder.
Barks stemming from a set of zombified dogs that Izaya didn't need to see to recognize resounded from the back and noises of distinguishing character joined a set of cotton flocks that the wind carried down.
Izaya didn't need for the priest to explain his actions, to know the mockery he was being presented with. He had just fed the stuffed animal as a toy to be destroyed by their zombified dogs.
It was a demonstration of unfairness and futility of actions in the face of the priest. Almost as if he were saying, I can make you do whatever I please no matter what.
But Izaya wasn't fazed by the action. If the goal the priest held was to ensure the group was aware of his unwavering grasp on anyone's actions then their mission had been quite useless.
Izaya had figured that out long ago, as well as thought up some loopholes.
"What's next?" he asked with way more confidence than the priest probably expected and he smiled.
"You might think I am cruel, but I am not. I suspect you must be tired. As a reward I will let you stand by. Should anything occur I will send one of my own to fetch you."
A reward, huh?
Izaya snorted softly. This was anything but a reward. They got no entry to the safety of the mall. Instead they were kept as involuntary guards, or rather, distraction food in case a hoard of zombies decided to approach the mall.
Well, not like Izaya expected anything else.
"And Shinra?" he asked loudly and his breath stilled. As much as he was a master of manipulating others he could only do so when given the chance. And right now, being allowed to visit Shinra was solely up to the priest.
It was a deal they made before departing and if Izaya had ever read anyone right then he was pretty sure the priest was not going to deny his request.
A smile spread across the priest's face as he nodded slowly. "As promised you will get ten minutes."
Ten minutes. That was the hook on Izaya's request, but not unexpected.
Approaching from the right there was suddenly another one of the many people following the priest's orders. Tilting his head to the right he signed for Izaya to follow, and so he did- and so did Shizuo.
Immediately stopping the guy turned and the very familiar sound of guns unlocking filled the silent morning air.
Izaya didn't turn to look at Shizuo, nor did he dare to speak as he merely glanced up towards the priest.
A smile sat on his lips and he raised his finger as if to scold a child.
"Only one."
Releasing the breath Izaya had held he glanced at Shizuo. No words were needed to understand the reluctance in Shizuo's eyes as he remained still, but the same accounted for Izaya as Shizuo met his glance.
He would return.
Ten minutes.
That amount of time was manageable and so Shizuo nodded and Izaya moved on.
Funnily enough despite having expected to be made to climb a ladder Izaya was actually led to a sort of back entrance. Door after door and labyrinth designed corridors passed before Izaya stepped inside the true interior of the mall.
He suspected those small alleys and stairs had been what the staff of this mall used or parts of a fire escape.
The ceiling of the mall was replaced by an oval shaped window of the size of a whale. Circles set inside to keep the construction from falling cast shadows upon the midsection of the mall.
It was a multistorey building and consisted of three very open and simple floors. From what Izaya could tell the bottom third was used as storage for various goods of necessity. He could spot entire stores previously consisting of clothes and anything alike, now used as spare rooms to stack supplies.
Food, water, medicine, weapons, even something that looked like armor.
A few cars were parked down there too from what Izaya could see.
The second floor was perforated with holes and balconies and seemed to serve as the main living space as well as Izaya's current location.
Wandering down the aisle and past a few stores that had been redesigned into flats of some kind he faced way more people than he had expected.
And not only that.
Eyes trailing back and forth he noticed with an uncanny sensation he didn't know how to take that he was surrounded by men only.
Not a single woman or child was to be spotted, nor anything connected to them.
Looking up front Izaya spotted an open area. Used for dining and spiked with tables and seats it probably used to be a popular hangout spot.
Right now it had apparently been reworked into a makeshift altar.
Grotesque pictures had been sprayed upon the tallest wall and the tables had been moved together to form a platform made for the priest.
This place was a simple mall, adjusted to everyone's survival, and yet something about this entire place made Izaya's skin crawl.
It also caused him to wonder, just what it was that the third floor was used for as he looked up towards the balconies.
"There. You have ten minutes." The guard suddenly announced and pointed towards what used to be a store selling jewelry and other high costing goods.
The name of the shop had been sprayed with black and red, now reading "prison", in caps, and Izaya advanced past the long broken and forcefully pried open sliding door.
The counters had been moved to the sides and an actual cage, brought in from a shop catering to animal needs stood at the center and inside- was Shinra.
to be continued~
C: We are back~ Now I wonder which is safer, Jo's hoes mall, or the train station? xDD See you next week everyone~ C: xD