Chapter 98: Focus

Anger of a kind Izaya rarely felt spread throughout his entire body. At first it was only his chest, his throat and head indulging into this mad desire of revenge. Ideas of shooting Namie, burning her alive and various other equally gruesome options circled his mind.

Shove her down the building, watch her life drain from her cruel carcass and let the fungi devour her.

Now that would be a fitting end for the bitch scientist.

But none of these options were an option. Even in his haze Izaya was aware of that fact and so he took a deep stuttering breath.

A breeze of cold wind grazed past his ears as he sat down on the ledge of the roof.

The fungi were still going in circles without any true goal, trying to find the source of the pretty noise and for a moment Izaya just tried to think of nothing as he watched them walk.

It was almost soothing to search for the patterns they drew upon movement, combined with Vivaldi's spring theme.

She was still there.

Kururi that is.

Walking ever so slowly, and having given up trying to force her way through iron bars she was now circling the fountain as well.

He needed to get her out of there.

But… how?

Shizuo was right when he said simply heading down there was a suicidal idea. There was no way for Izaya to bring a very likely resistant fungus with him without being spotted by the others, no matter how he went about it.

"What do you want to do with her?" and it was Shizuo's voice that brought his attention away from the masses of infected people.

Eyes narrowing softly, Izaya closed his eyes for a quick soothing moment as he answered the only sane response he could offer. "Give her blood."

Because at the end of the day the antidote or vaccine or whatever it was that Kujiragi was creating according to correct medical terms, was not ready yet. And it would probably continue to not be for a while still.

"... you said it only works if you haven't turned yet." Concern swayed in Shizuo's voice and with an awfully lot of compassion he sat down next to Izaya on the ledge of the building.

Feet dangled down, so close to the fungi, yet so far.

Shizuo wasn't trying to get on his nerves- the opposite. He was trying to help Izaya sort his thoughts, he was trying to get him to understand that acting rash right now would only endanger themselves.

Izaya knew.

And still-

Looking down at that fragile body of his younger sister he felt every fiber in his body tense. He could save her. Eventually. Surely. But for that to happen she had to survive. For that to happen there were a variety of factors that caused Izaya's throat to constrict.

Time of infection for example.

Even if being given an antidote and having one's sanity returned, wasn't going to guarantee miracles. What if the only result they achieved would be the death of the infected? It wasn't uncommon in animals. For corpses to be possessed by either a parasite or shroom and move despite already being dead.

There was only so much a human body could take and the idea of Kururi slowly but surely dying while being moved into the perfect location to spread her spores like a cordyceps fungus was hard to envision.

Kururi had been infected for so long-

And yet…

"I'm still giving her the blood."

Izaya's words had been quiet. Unsure.

Even Shizuo noticed as much.

"Can your blood alone really help?" he whispered and the answer he dreaded returned.

"...I don't know…"

Shizuo didn't need to look at Izaya, didn't need him to tell him to understand just what kind of horror this new revelation was putting him through.

He knew the pain he had gone through when trying to save Mairu. The knowledge of there being the option to bring an infected body back from its zombified state had to weigh heavier than steel on Izaya's mind. And now, seeing the one sister he thought had died, alive, yet not being able to do a single thing to save her…

It was an excruciating sensation. Suffocating.

"Take your time. You are smart," Shizuo tried. "Mairu isn't going to go anywhere you have time. You can think about a solution but please don't do anything reckless."

Izaya noticed the way Shizuo was looking at him. He was aware that the one thing Shizuo was most scared of right now, was for Izaya to act rash and endanger himself in the process of trying to save his sister.

He knew.

And he was smart enough to not act on this tempting impulse.

"... we have a job to complete." Izaya announced, with his voice awfully lacking any emotion to show and with that he rose from his seat.

The two children, similar in age and probably friends from before the apocalypse were still standing on the other side of the museum's roof. Quite lost if Izaya had to describe them. Which didn't come as a surprise, after all the reinforcements they had received to shoot the zombies were trying to shoot each other only minutes after their arrival.

Izaya's behavior had surely created some questions and he couldn't even blame them for looking at him the way they did the moment he moved over.

"... uhm, are we going to start or…?" Phil was the first to speak as he articulated the need to get rid of the zombies still and his job in making sure that it was completed.

Following his eyes Izaya looked at the mess around them.

The zombies.

Their group. Split into even parts of neutrality, anger and empathy.

But now was not the time to make up or discuss any mishaps of the past. Shinra was still back at the mall and if those zombies managed to overtake this collecting point then he would be the first to die.

"You two will keep watch," Izaya announced curtly, with much more confidence and authority than the two had expected.

"No more shooting without my permission," Izaya ordered and the two quickly agreed.

"Y-yes, sir." Phil answered, obviously a little bit intimidated, but at least he actually did as told and nodded towards his friend before moving to the far ends of the museum respectively.

It was his own group that Izaya addressed next seeing as they had slowly closed in.

Karisawa and Kadota had stuck side by side and Vorona made it a point to always be in line with Izaya and Namie. There was a lot that Izaya wanted to say and even more than he wanted to do, but not now.

"Shoot them down. As many as you can," Izaya announced and glared into her direction. "And I hope you are aware of what you should be aiming at."

In other words.

Harm Kururi and he would make sure they suffered the same fate.

A consensual nod was all he really deceived from everyone around. Not even Shizuo said a word. It was when Namie reached for one of the available weapons in the boxes that Izaya's eyes narrowed.

"Not you," he spat, and the hand that had reached out stilled immediately mid air.

Izaya almost expected some stupid arguments, or jokes in his direction. After all Namie was a lot, but definitely not compassionate.

And yet she didn't say a single word. Not even a glance of disobedience was cast and instead she turned and looked towards the location they left their vehicle in.

Karisawa was the first to break the solemn mood as she quickly raised her cheerful voice. "I will take care of the back. I don't have the best aim." But not a single smile was turned into her direction.

"I will do the side," Kadota quickly agreed, seeing how she was faltering.

A quick smile, a nod, it didn't take much more from Karisawa to understand how grateful she was for his presence and within a few minutes the two were gone and stationed on the vast roof.

It was when Vorona picked up and aimed towards the front of the museum that Izaya's eyes narrowed once more.

"And what do you think you are aiming at?" he hissed quickly, but it only took a glance to her eyes to realize that she was not harbouring any ill intentions.

Her expression spoke of sadness, and funnily enough of something that seemed to resemble understanding.

With Karisawa and Kadota gone, Namie watching the back a couple meters off and Shizuo on standby, seemingly guarding Izaya from his own actions, they were pretty much alone for the first time since they met in this mess.

The weapon the woman had drawn was lowered and with a deep sigh she looked towards Kururi.

"Cut her some slack," she whispered, and it was clear that she was talking about Namie and what she had done. "Nobody knew what was happening. Everyone simply turned to them and asked them to take care of something they didn't understand themselves," she tried further, but her words achieved nothing more than to aggravate Izaya's nerves even further.

He knew what she was saying was right and yet-

"Did you know?" His eyes narrowed and the familiar taste of betrayal covered his tongue, but to his surprise Vorona denied his question.

"About your sister? No."

No?

Confusion took over for a brief moment and allowed the anger Izaya felt to dissipate.

"Then why are you even defending her? I wasn't aware you were such a fan of psychotic scientists." Izaya frowned, but all Vorona had to offer was a smile.

Content and blissfully genuine.

"She saved me."

It were just three simple words. Namie saved Vorona. Okay. Of course. At some point this group had to have gotten together and until then everyone probably had had their own share of adventures.

And yet something about those three words caused Izaya to flinch.

Memories of how many people he had tried to save and failed to, flooded his mind. Of Shiki. Of Kururi. Of Mairu. Shizuo.

Shizuo had saved him and he had saved Shizuo more often that he had been willing to count by now. Vorona wasn't aware of anything they had been through and yet Izaya suddenly felt less offended by her words as she clearly had faced her own set of horrors to this day.

Unbelievable calmth radiated off her body and for a second she showed a quick chuckle.

"She could have just walked on. I was trapped, got my leg stuck between two cars."

"You got into a crash?" Shizuo asked startling Izaya lightly as he had not expected him to but into this conversation at all, but it seemed her words had not only affected him.

"It was only one of two options," Vorona explained with a shrug. "Lunge into the highway or get bitten."

So she had been chased by fungi. A truly remarkable decision. It wasn't easy to end one's life in the first place, but to take the active decision to do it in a way more befitting than another took a toll on one's mind.

"And yet you are still alive and talking to me. What did she do? Move the car away?" Izaya joked, and somehow in the corner of his mind he was aware that something this negligible was not what Vorona was about to tell.

"No way, the car was ruined. Both of them." Her words could have been lies. The entire story she was telling might as well be made up. And yet the moment she said those words an almost imperceptible shudder trailed down her back.

No.

This was a real memory she was talking about. Izaya had talked to enough people to know what lies looked like.

"She cut the door." Vorona whispered, "A fire car was nearby. The frame of the door had bent in ways I didn't even know it could and she grabbed a tool made for cutting through hard objects." A Halligan bar? Or a circular saw? Izaya wasn't quite sure what she was talking about, but that detail didn't matter in the first place.

A tired smile placed itself onto Vorona's lips. "Took her quite a while. She looked pretty scared herself," she whispered and sighed. "But she didn't leave. Not even when one of them approached."

Vorona should really think about changing careers because the way she retold that memory truly sent goosebumps down Izaya's spine.

He could envision it vividly. The way she was stuck. The groans and sound of footsteps slowly approaching from the side with no option to flee.

"It was a close call, really," Vorona cleared her throat quickly and chased away the image of a rotten face clacking its jaw as it drew near. "Got out and beheaded that thing on the spot with a piece of the car's door," she quickly finished what was probably the most impressive part about her story. "After that she took care of my wounds."

Izaya knew what Vorona was trying to say. How nice Namie had been. How selfless and praiseworthy. She was basically trying to say that Namie wasn't a bad person at heart. But none of that was of any concern to Izaya.

"She just knew how good of an asset you are," he shrugged. "You are basically an insurance to her survival." Especially an analytical woman like her was always going to weigh the pros and cons of her actions. And despite the danger she had put herself into by trying to save Vorona, she had survived to this day exactly because of her personal watchdog.

"Maybe," Vorona agreed, "But that doesn't change the fact that she saved my life risking hers."

The weapon she had held was raised to her eyes and for a second Izaya felt his guts drop as she aimed into the direction he had last seen Kururi in.

A shot fell-

And for a second Izaya's heart stopped.

But it wasn't Kururi that had been killed, but a fungus right next to her. Clean headshot. Right between the eyes.

"I have the best aim, you should be aware of that," Vorona whispered as she reloaded her weapon. "The girl in the hospital coat, right?" she nodded towards Kururi. "I will clear up those around her."

In other words she was going to help Izaya.

And that even though he had threatened Namie only moments ago.

Trust was a funny thing. Easily lost and hard to be attained, and yet somehow Izaya found himself believing in this woman and her promise to keep Kururi safe.

"... alright," he whispered and Vorona nodded.

Shizuo had not really understood what exactly it was that had changed, but he certainly noticed that something had.

Something in Izaya.

Something in Vorona.

In Karisawa, Kadota and even Namie.

When they first arrived at this group all that was offered towards Izaya was negative emotions. Distrust. Hatred. He had seen it in everyone's eyes, the wish for Izaya to leave and Shizuo to stay.

But now?

Was it because of everything they had been through? The priest? Or because they had seen Izaya's desire to save his sister? The way he had tried to save Namie from herself by taking the blame for what happened to her brother?

Shizuo couldn't tell.

But he understood a simple notion. Izaya had led their group so far, by means of necessity more than sympathy, but right now that notion seemed to have changed.

The way Karisawa, Kadota and Vorona had looked at him, seemed more like they wanted to support him rather than simply following.

to be continued~

Aye, the pieces for our final game are starting to align C: We have a king. We have the bishops. The rooks. A knight as well as for the other…. C: OH well, oh well, the pace is about to pick up C: And where are the pawns? HMM C:

Happy new year everyone! xD See you next friday~ C: