Chapter 83: Ray
Namie wasn't sure what to expect.
A horde of flatworms waiting for them as soon as they opened the door? Maybe. A few corpses hissing in the dark and jumping towards them as soon as they stepped out? Definitely.
The sun's rays were kissing the border of darkness up front causing everything behind their backs to succumb to the darkest of shadows. Namie had never been the type to be afraid of ghost or horror movies, but right now she found herself remembering jumpscares of various clips and her hair stood on ends.
But there were in fact no flatworms. No fungi either.
Progressing slowly and with utmost caution, Izaya and Shizuo seemed to have either administered themselves their respective roles of guards or simply acted on instinct as Izaya kept his eyes in front and Shizuo kept his eyes in the darkness.
Stuck like a piece of ham between two slices of bread Namie did her best to just not freeze on the spot and moved.
Fucking up the previous day by completely losing her ability to reason when she faced that zombie was enough of an embarrassment to hold onto her courage today.
"Clear, let's go," Shizuo whispered quietly and Izaya advanced.
Corpses of flatworms were passed. The tunnel gained more vision the further they advanced and before Namie knew it they were there.
Outside.
The grotesque tunnel filled with corpses and blood signing the path to their secret hideout had served less of a problem than she had expected and so she released the breath she hadn't realized she had held.
Vary eyes glanced at their surroundings. The plaza before the station. The stairs. The buildings.
An anomaly of a distinct kind caught Namie's attention quickly.
"Why are they all-'' she started, but Izaya seemed to have noticed the same as he finished her question with ease.
"Gone?"
They were. They, as in, the zombies. Flatworms and fungi alike. There was no sight of even a single one that had not remained dead on the ground. It was a picture serving as much peace as it was bringing anxiety.
Izaya usually preferred being able to see his opponent to having it lurk in the shadows and watch his every step from a safe distance, and yet right now this sight only evoked joy.
"It was a theory up until now, but I'm sure you noticed some of them too," he started as he walked to the middle of the plaza. The sun was rising steadily and fast and the warmth it provided brought a soothing sensation of peace. "Spots with no life at all. No fungi, no flatworms. Nothing."
Tipping the bottom of her lip the woman seemed to reminisce about her previous experiences traveling with Shinra and the rest. Recognition grazed her eyes as she met Izaya's.
"I did. Once or twice. I thought it was a coincidence."
As a scientist she had learned to take everything that didn't indicate a significant connection as pure coincidence. Patterns to act upon were only beneficial when it came to using them in human psychology. But biological systems rarely worked in the most obvious patterns seen.
"Tons of both the fungi as well as the flatworms died here which makes it an hostile environment. I think they are informing their fellow kinship about the danger of remaining in this zone." Izaya quickly concluded and despite the urge to ask him for evidence on such theories, Namie recognized that this time it was probably best to rely on his instincts.
If she had learned anything during the past years and the time spent outside in this apocalyptic world, then it was that Izaya had survived successfully by relying on exactly those patterns of thoughts and ideas he had.
Kicking one of the fungal corpses on the ground she cursed under her breath.
"Damned bastards. They already have superhuman strength and an abnormal speed, could they at least cut down on their intellect?"
Sparing a quick smile of sympathy Izaya sighed before looking around.
"I would say it's more of an instinct, but yeah, I agree."
With their surroundings destroyed or vastly dysfunctional he could see what the woman was getting at. "Feels like we are playing a game but our opponents are using cheat codes without restrictions," he added and picked up a blood smeared knife on the ground.
It had probably been lost by some poor soul trying to get past this area. Or maybe the flatworms consumed him whole leaving nothing but this piece of iron behind.
Both thoughts were equally disturbing and Izaya tossed the knife away again.
"Now, the bear," he announced with more confidence and joy than he felt. He had not forgotten their meaningless mission. And neither had Namie. "Do you see one?" he asked, and the woman turned as well, adjusting her senses from spotting danger to old memories of shops and their goods.
Shizuo turned around as well, giving the task his own thought.
"We could head to a gas station or something. They usually have a children's section selling toys," Namie mumbled, more to herself than to Izaya but he caught the words nonetheless.
Crossing his arms Izaya tilted his head upwards as he recalled the last time he had been inside one. Ironically it was the gas station he had visited with Shizuo. And the place where Namie's brother died.
But now was not the time to rub salt into an open wound. "You mean like keychains and stuff?" he mumbled, trying to recall the interior of the station. He could recall Shizuo gathering food and necessities. The gift section hadn't really drawn his attention and the fever he had held back then wasn't helping his memory either.
"Last minute presents, you know. In case you forgot to buy anything and it's too late. Or Sunday. Flowers and plush bears or hearts are a common find," Namie shrugged and Izaya couldn't help but snort as he met her gaze.
"Why do I get the feeling you never turned to anything else when having to gift someone something?"
Indifference marked the woman's attitude as she shrugged, "I don't have the time nor the will to expend unnecessary energy on such stupid customs."
"How about the pharmacy?" Shizuo suddenly asked and the two turned in unexpected surprise.
"What?" Namie was the first to speak and followed Shizuo's gaze.
It took her a second to understand Shizuo's suggestion, but then she spotted the pharmacy not too far from them. It was small. Settled into a multi store building and secured by thick walls left and right.
The rising sun was starting to flood its interior with light as well and it proved quite the inviting sight.
"Sometimes they sell plushies for menstrual pain. The ones with an opening that fits a hot water bottle," Shizuo explained, as none of the two had yet replied as they were busy analyzing the benefits and downsides to Shizuo's suggestion.
Izaya raised his eyebrow, "How do you know that?"
"Anything you would like to tell us?" Namie snorted, being just as aware as Izaya that Shizuo owned a brother, but no sister to derive that knowledge from. It was obviously a joke directed towards his gender and meant to lighten the mood.
Too bad she achieved the opposite.
"Kasuka asked me to fetch one once. For his girlfriend," Shizuo answered, and despite not knowing that Shizuo had had to kill his own brother in order to survive Namie was smart enough to read his expression to know that she had touched a sensitive topic.
The sleek smile fell as quickly as it came and she averted her gaze.
"Sorry." Quiet like a bat traversing the night the word was whispered and Izaya laughed.
"Wow, you made Namie apologize. If that's not a sign of doom then I don't know what is."
Embarrassment and guilt still kept its clutches around the woman's body as she turned around with light fervor.
"Shut up- where are you going?"
Izaya wasn't waiting for a reply. There was no reason to continue this depressing topic nor was there the need to discuss visiting the pharmacy or not.
His shoes advanced across the bloodied path as he made his way over.
"I will check the pharmacy out. It's the closest option and if we are lucky we don't have to wander anywhere else," he explained quickly and Namie hurried to follow.
"Wait up at least," she groaned and Izaya smiled at the way he had successfully revived her confidence and dispersed the heavy topic.
Because as much as he liked seeing Namie regret one of her actions, the expression Shizuo had made when he was made to mention his brother was of a kind he didn't want to preserve for longer than needed.
Electricity and light had been gone for a while now and the usually vibrant letters above reading the pharmacy's name provided nothing but a nice spot for birds to build their nests in.
The windows were miraculously still intact and even the interior seemed to have remained almost untouched.
A rare find in this environment. Only the door destroyed the nostalgic image, as a corpse had dived head first into its lower section.
The glass had shattered and shards of bloody red were decorating the ground all the way to the back of the pharmacy.
Must have been quite the force that let this poor creature end its fate.
Eyes spotting what they had been looking for all along, Izaya clapped his hands in a moment of surprised joy. "You were right!"
A circular rack, made to spin around itself was displayed in the middle of the pharmacy holding a vast variety of stuffed animals.
Cancercrabs was written in colorful letters above and apart from a few plushies depicting the marine life form along with a few of its most common comrades, there was a small inscription written underneath the catchy name.
Apparently every plushie sold donated some of its revenue to a research facility trying to help young children suffering the disease. In order to make more sales the advertising team had become quite creative it appeared, because apart from the crabs Izaya could spot a vast amount of differentiating animals.
There were otters, frogs, a ray, but also cats and dogs. The organization probably started running this campaign with crabs and then realized that not every child was a fan of those six legged hard crusted animals and decided to add more.
A beautiful decision, considering they added one more animal to this cluster.
An orange bear.
Supposedly representing the crabs still, every animal was orange in fact, but the color didn't matter as the description of the priest had been quite clear.
Get a teddy bear.
As silly as the order was, it left room for interpretation and so Izaya smiled in the presence of victory.
Spotting their desired object as well, Namie sighed as soon as she joined Izaya at the door. "Thank god, now we can-"
But her words found no end.
Her hand, having reached forward to touch the door handle and open the front, was pulled back with enough force to make her lose her balance and land on her ass.
A hostile hiss escaped her lips as she glared at Izaya for the uncalled move, but then she saw Izaya's attention was not focused on her, but on the shop's interior and froze.
The oppressing silence that had encircled the small group suddenly held a much more sinister tone as her body stiffened.
There was one.
She didn't need to see it in order to know and her eyes darted up and down the store.
None.
She saw none.
Looking back at Izaya and the way his body tensed and gaze remained unmoving she slowly picked herself from the ground.
Shizuo had caught up as well and moving next to Izaya he caught sight of what they both hadn't.
There it was.
A flatworm.
The faintest hint of a shadow remained in the corner of the pharmacy, right behind the counter. Quite like a spider the creature had withdrawn itself and curled up into a shape most unsusceptible.
It didn't move.
That was the first thing Namie noticed as she swallowed slowly.
Was it dead? It showed no wounds-
And suddenly the creature's eyes, open and staring up front, blinked.
Just once.
Almost imperceptibly.
And Namie felt a shudder travel down her spine unlike any she had felt before.
This creature was pretending to be dead in order to lure them in.
"What the hell-" she breathed and instinctively moved a step back. That monster was waiting. The slight movement of its eyes had given it away.
It was probably one of the flatworms that escaped yesterday's purge.
Patience of a kind Namie didn't want to find in any of these creature's radiated off the flatworm. Almost, as if it were aware of what Izaya and Shizuo did.
"What do we do? Look for another shop?" Namie whispered despite knowing the creature wouldn't be able to understand her words.
"Do I look like I love running in circles?" Izaya groaned but his body remained vigilant and tense.
Shizuo stepped up. "I could kill it," he announced with a kind of confidence that Namie couldn't even start to comprehend.
"How?" Izaya asked calmly, not second guessing his idea but rather asking for an actual approach.
Looking around Shizuo crouched onto the ground.
The front door had been partly smashed and the cupboard right next to it inside the pharmacy had suffered a little from the impact as well.
Pulling a plank from the closest shelf Shizuo sent its contents flying as he claimed the newly found weapon for himself. A set of glass bottles broke upon impact and the stench of alcohol filled the air for a second.
"With this?" he suggested and Izaya's stomach churned just a bit at the similarity to a previous situation.
He remembered too well how Shizuo smashed the last flatworm they encountered in a similar fashion. It had been the one trapped by shadows that sent Izaya into a short moment of panic. It was also the one Izaya derived his antidote from and he subconsciously touched the spot he had pierced his skin in.
"Not the best idea, what if you miss? What if it bites you?" Izaya declared.
Because this time he wasn't out of order, and having Shizuo head inside this pharmacy without no plan B whatsoever was out of the question.
"Wait, aren't you immune?" Namie suddenly addressed Izaya, "You could go and-"
"No." Shizuo's reply came quicker and much more firmly than Namie had expected it.
Izaya understood. He had seen the objection coming.
After all, just because he was bitten by a fungus and didn't succumb to the virus didn't mean being bitten by a flatworm was guaranteeing the same.
To be honest he expected more stubbornness on Namie's part, especially since he was the only one endangering his life should he choose to venture inside the pharmacy.
But he was proven wrong as the woman sighed.
Patting some dust off her ass she shook her head.
"Let's move. This won't be the only place we can-"
Wrong choice.
Whatever she did, whatever she said, something about it set the creature off much quicker than any of them suspected.
Feet grazed the ground, infectious teeth clacked.
The creature screeched.
Faster than Namie was able to even think about running away it was there- jumped into the sunlight, despite the pain, despite the end it spoke for it and a scream stuck in the back of Namie's throat.
Blood burst from the creature's head within a single seconds time and violence smashed the flatworm into the ground.
Once, twice, thrice- more often than Namie was able to count the wooden plank Shizuo had pulled from the pharmacy earlier was brought down onto the creature's skull.
Bones cracked, brains spread until the head turned out flatter than Shizuo's weapon.
Chest heaving and mind short circuited Namie could do nothing but stare at the monster in front of her feet, closer than any she had ever seen.
Did it bite her?
Eyes scanning her body up and down in a frantic fashion the woman searched for even the slightest hint of injury- but there was none.
None on her.
None on Shizuo, none on Izaya.
"Alright, that takes care of it, thank you for your cooperation." Izaya suddenly declared, quite disturbed himself, but less than Namie.
Her mind was running haywire and her heart was beating out of her chest. "You are welcome." She responded meekly, but wasn't quite present when she said them.
This flatworm.
Why did it wait? Why did it hide?
Why did it pretend to be dead?
Did it understand they were going to leave?
Did it understand her words?
Speech? Or actions?
If so, why did it give chase? It knew the sunlight would hurt it.
It knew the sunlight would kill it.
Did it sacrifice itself in order to execute revenge?
Nausea fuelled by the tremors shaking her body accumulated in her mind as her thoughts spiraled downwards into an endless abyss.
She was a scientist. She had seen organisms of all sorts. But this was so out of anything she had ever researched it made her feel suffocated.
It was then, after a minute of sitting there, shocked, terrified, that something soft and orange appeared before her eyes.
Izaya had stepped inside the pharmacy. The teddy bear had been successfully retrieved and their object of desire was now handed towards the woman.
And not only that.
Blinking once, doubting her eyesight, Namie looked at Izaya.
Izaya, and an orange ray plushie.
"We only need one." She whispered, much quieter than intended. But Izaya only showed a disapproving expression and turned the ray towards his face.
Right in front, as if talking to it.
"But it's cute, right?" he questioned, and as if enacting some kind of manic behavior he nodded to his own question and moved the ray with his own response. "Yes I am."
And somehow Namie was just left to stare.
Stare.
Dumbfounded.
Confused.
Scared.
And yet- suddenly she couldn't help but laugh.
Laugh. Because that action was just so silly and unexpected after nearly having died to one of the greatest dangers of their environment that she couldn't help her emotions as she grasped her forehead.
A short glance was cast towards Shizuo, expecting some kind of retort, maybe have him snap at Izaya for acting like an idiot, instead she just saw a smile.
And with even more confusion Namie realized that Shizuo didn't mind.
Almost the opposite.
And suddenly she found herself understanding a bit how these two had survived for so long without getting killed or going insane.
to be continued~
xD Well I hope my little jumpscare succeeded in getting you good hahahaha
See you next chapter~ C; xDDD