Chapter 90: Izakaya
Grasping the guy, weighing even less than Izaya, without effort, the two quickly made their way towards the entrance of this secret hideout.
The ladder was descended even quicker than they had climbed it up and within a few minutes they stood in the midst of the street that had served them so badly the day before.
They needed to find a pharmacy. Needed to find a safe place to stay.
Clouds were gathering in the sky a bit further away from them and Izaya didn't want to find out personally whether they would approach or not.
"This-" Shizuo suddenly said, and blissfully skilled as he was at spotting exactly what Izaya was looking for, he found himself looking at a small pharmacy.
It was nothing large, just a body's breadth of a room filled with the minimum necessities. Probably used on weekends or by the local people only.
Stepping inside it took only a second to scan the single room for any infected, but neither flatworms nor fungi were present.
Bandaids were grabbed, disinfectant, salves and various pills of Izaya's choice.
"Anything else?" Shizuo asked with his eyes glued to the streets in order to make out anything dangerous making its way towards them.
A soft snort brought his attention to Izaya as he raised a brow.
"Say, aren't you going to ask why I'm helping him?"
But Shizuo only snorted, "So you can craft a witty reason that's not the truth?"
It wasn't the answer Izaya expected, but a smile sneaked onto his expression anyway as he quickly made his way out of the small pharmacy. "I'm not a Samarita."
"Whatever you say." Not many more words were wasted on the topic as the two quickly progressed.
Shizuo could feel it.
The blood slowly soaking his back.
He was no doctor and he had no idea how to judge an injury so the sensation seemed nothing but purely uncanny.
"Are you sure this guy is gonna be okay?" he asked as they advanced the street. Sure, he appeared to not have lost as much blood as Shinra or Karisawa did when they were injured, but still…
Slowing down a bit, Izaya waited for Shizuo to catch up before casting a quick glance upon the guy's unconscious body.
"He was sitting there for more than 24 hours and hasn't bled to death or died any other gruesome death, so I surmise his organs have been spared and the wound is only flesh," Izaya quickly explained, albeit frowned too as he looked at the amount of blood the guy was losing now that they had removed the object.
"What about infection?" Shizuo asked, and really for once he couldn't have been more perceptive.
Raising a package of strong broad spectrum antibiotics he picked up earlier he waved it back and forth.
"Can't ask him for intolerances or allergies, but I hope he didn't fetch himself anything resistant to it."
Piperacillin was written across its side and Shizuo nodded. He didn't really have much medicinal knowledge, but if Izaya believed he could treat him with that, then he was going to believe in him.
A short glance was cast towards their unconscious guest and Shizuo's eyes narrowed.
He knew Izaya had probably figured out everything that had happened up there while most of it remained a mystery to Shizuo. But his guts told him enough to know that he had been betrayed by those that traveled with him.
Being left behind like that was no accident and he doubted the priest wanted to actually save this man either.
"This-" Izaya suddenly mumbled, too quiet for Shizuo to hear the rest, but he followed Izaya's line of sight.
An Izakaya.
The red lamps dangling in front of the entrance had lost most of their inviting character as a large sum of them had ended up being torn, toppled down, or discarded. A few flatworms rushing by or maybe people trying to get away in a panic had probably been at fault for it and Shizuo looked at the entrance.
"A restaurant?" he uttered and Izaya pointed at the clouds, slowly gathering in the distance.
"Did you look at the sky?" he asked, and Shizuo's eyes narrowed upon the sight of gray and blue.
"I'm taking anything that's lockable and on the second floor," Izaya announced, and Shizuo found himself agreeing wholeheartedly.
Their narrow escape the day before wasn't exactly an event he wanted to repeat, and so they approached the entrance.
The door was closed, but that wasn't much of a hindrance to Shizuo.
"If you were so kind?" Izaya asked, but wouldn't have needed to as the blond jerked the heavy door open without batting an eyelid.
Tables, chairs and a counter made of wood presented itself in front of them. The counter was probably used to cook in front of people and a ray of light grazed the inside of the room from above as if to imitate the brightness of days that this space had brought.
Bodies tense and eyes narrowed, the two looked around for any sight of fungi, flatworms, or anything else this shitty environment might throw at them.
Dust had collected on some tables.
Silence ruled the space and Izaya noticed that this place seemed to have been abandoned long before the virus broke out.
He knelt down, just to be safe and glanced past the tables.
Nothing.
Cautious steps were taken towards the kitchen, and a small curtain separating the space quickly brushed aside before backing off.
No reaction.
"Seems we are alone," Izaya announced, and Shizuo's body relaxed somewhat.
Tilting his head Shizuo looked towards the single window allowing for the sight. A couple stairs at the back of the restaurant were leading upwards, and all while proceeding with caution, Izaya made his way towards them.
It seemed the staff of the Izakaya lived above their restaurant.
"Close that," Izaya ordered with a quick nod towards the entrance they just came through, and Shizuo did. Grasping the door left and right he pressed it into the opening in a way that wouldn't allow anyone to enter without being noticed.
"Upstairs," Izaya whispered next, and Shizuo nodded.
A meat cleaver having been left behind was grasped from the counter, just to be safe, and so he followed.
Pictures of a family stood besides the corridor adjacent to the stairs and three rooms spread before them. A short glance allowed Shizuo to see their content and his brows furrowed.
A family of three. Mother, father and a child. They were shown smiling, celebrating a birthday, a first day of school and one with a variety of friends. Seeing how this place had been abandoned and the state of their city…
They had most probably all died by now.
"Shizuo," Izaya called quietly, and Shizuo's attention reverted to the topic most important at the moment.
Light streamed into the two rooms on the left side, making them exceedingly safe.
Not so the one on the right and Shizuo tensed.
Careful steps approached the door frame.
A slip of hesitation marked Izaya's steps just for a brief second- before he faced the room-
And stilled.
A deep sigh left his left and Shizuo's body relaxed upon joining up.
It was just a storage room.
Food was stocked left and right. A freezer the size of a full grown man sat at the back and seeing how the shelves allowed for nothing to hide, it appeared to be safe.
Quicker than Shizuo liked him to, Izaya turned and looked into the other two rooms.
A bedroom.
A living room.
"Finally a goddamn place to rest," he announced quickly and moved to the window. they were on the second floor, so the chances someone was going to enter through them was relatively small.
He could see the streets, the bridge too albeit in the distance. This area, seeing how they had killed all these flatworms the day before, was probably safer than any other at the moment and so he dropped what he got from the pharmacy on the ground.
"Put him down." Izaya ordered as quickly as he pulled some of the packages apart.
"Do you even know how to treat a wound that deep?" Shizuo asked quicker than his mind could comprehend his own words, and Izaya snorted.
"Can't be worse at it than you."
Right.
Alcohol, needles, a thread, one supplement after the other was aligned next to their patient as Izaya visibly laid out a plan for his treatment.
He was awfully collected about it, much different from what Shizuo had been back at the hospital.
He still remembered it. The face Izaya had made when that flatworm crashed him into the tiles. And the way he stopped talking. The horror he felt back then-
"That really messed me up," Shizuo mumbled, and Izaya's motions halted for a second. "You I mean. Unconscious and all. I was sure you were going to die."
Izaya had no way to know what exactly it was that Shizuo had been through after he passed out, but he had seen enough of the results to have figured his own part.
"I noticed the second I woke up," he hummed, and proceeded to clear the wound of any clothes, crusted blood and dirt. "I mean who else goes walking around and skewering zombies instead of running away?" he chuckled and with a short side eyes he glanced towards Shizuo before starting his treatment.
Shizuo was smart enough to know that now was not the time for a lively conversation and so he offered nothing more than a simple nod before watching Izaya go about his treatment.
It was somewhat relieving to watch. Mainly because this time it wasn't anyone close to them who had gotten injured.
Izaya, Karisawa, Shinra- they were people he didn't want to lose, and despite feeling a bit sorry for the guy they found, he wasn't going to cry if they failed to save him.
They didn't even know his name.
And despite everything else going on at the moment, as long as Izaya was fine, Shizuo had a feeling he would be too.
A minute passed. Then five. Twenty. After a while Izaya's motions started to speed up as he seemed to get a hand of binding tissue together.
It was when the last thread was knotted tightly upon the stranger's skin that Izaya took a deep breath- and frowned.
"That bad?" Shizuo found himself asking and his voice cracked for a second as he had remained silent for the entirety of the operation.
"Actually, no. This guy was pretty lucky to get stabbed the way he did, but the blood loss…" Izaya faded out, but Shizuo knew what he meant.
Having remained with an open wound for an entire night had definitely had to take a large portion of that.
"Do you need some?" he asked, while pushing his sleeve upwards, but Izaya seemed anything but happy about his suggestion.
"Since when did you turn into a voluntary blood bank?" he asked with the faintest hint of hostility and Shizuo frowned.
"Bad idea?"
It seemed Izaya hadn't realized how much of his disdain he had shown as he blinked for a moment.
Right.
Blaming Shizuo was not the way to go about this.
"I could use it," he sighed, "But honestly, after a day like yesterday I would rather have you keep as much of your blood as you can."
Shizuo understood.
Izaya was talking about possibilities. About a case where they ended up needing their own blood.
Of course.
There was no telling when they would be surprised and injured.
"Alright, now for the antibiotic-" Izaya announced quickly, trying to get rid of the gloomy topic and pulled the blister out of its confines.
A pill larger than anything Shizuo would want to swallow popped from its confines and Izaya paused.
"Ah. Crap. I forgot he is unconscious."
Leaning forward Shizuo looked at their patient. Apart from his stab wound he was fine, wasn't he?
"Just force it down his throat," he suggested, but realized pretty quickly that his idea had not been the best as Izaya cringed.
"An unconscious person doesn't have a swallowing reflex, do you want me to kill this guy after all?" he asked and Shizuo blinked.
"Oh. But he needs to take this, right?"
A quick nod was given and Izaya closed his eyes for a second as he tilted his head thinking.
"How about crushing it and putting it into his veins?" Shizuo tried again, but Izaya shook his head.
"You would need a viable solution and heat to mix the substances properly or else you are just gonna clog his veins."
Looking at the guy, Shizuo frowned. He thought fixing the wound would be enough, was he really going to die now just because he could swallow a pill?
A glare was directed at the wound and the possible sepsis spreading from there- and he blinked.
Right, the injury-
"Maybe sprinkle it inside his wound…?" Shizuo suggested, but all his idea brought was a stifled chuckle.
"What are you trying to do? Bake a cake?" Izaya laughed, and Shizuo only felt dumber by the second.
"You know I'm not good with this stuff," he groaned, "If you already know how then just tell me."
Sighing softly, Izaya pushed himself off the ground.
"I don't actually. I have some theories, but seeing as he is already injured I'm not too fond of the idea of using him like a guinea pig."
A faint hint of confusion tainted Shizuo's eyes as he looked towards their patient.
"But then isn't he gonna die?"
The guy's chest was already rising and falling much slower than healthy for a human being. And now after dragging him all the way over here…
"Not if he wakes up first," Izaya declared. "I closed the wound. He lost blood, but not a lethal amount." Sighing softly he stilled. "In short, we did everything we could. Now it's on him."
Stretching his arms out Izaya sighed contently for a moment and tilted his head as he steered towards the corridor.
"I hope he does," Shizuo mumbled, and the slightest hint of gloom befell his mind.
He didn't know this guy. He didn't even know whether he was going to like or hate his personality. But somehow the picture in the corridor popped back into his mind and he frowned.
This guy probably had a family too.
It was at the sound of clatter that Shizuo realized that Izaya had actually left the room.
"What are you doing?" he called while rising to his own feet.
And his voice answered from afar.
"Some food would be nice by-" and suddenly he paused- only to pick his words back up in higher pitch. "Shizuo!"
Zombies.
That was the first thought coming to mind as Shizuo's body immediately tensed and his body rushed forward in a leap-
There had to be some they overlooked- some that surprised Izaya- some that would hurt Izaya-
And so he barged into the storage, ready to kill whatever dared to come into sight.
Except there was no one other than Izaya.
Izaya and the open freezer dousing the room in light blue.
A smile broader than anything Shizuo had seen the past few weeks displayed on Izaya's expression and a frozen lump of purplish red meat seemed to rest in his hands as he lifted the package like a proud father presenting his first newborn son.
"I found Otooro!"
Shizuo paused.
Shizuo blinked.
Unsure whether to be relieved or mad- but at the end the laughter won as it forced its way past his lips.
"You are such an idiot."
Because how could he be offended when Izaya looked delighted like that?
to be continued~
Hahaha mini jump scare but no worries it's just fish xDDDD Sometimes Izaya really is an idiot xDD
This chapter ended up a bit longer than I thought haha but no worries next Saturday you will finally get some juicy new intel xDD