Nightshift 42: The Pet Supply Place
There had still been enough time for the nurses to gather everyone and head back, though it didn't keep Yuuhi from staying near Sakura's side, just in case. What he hadn't expected though, was the sudden change that came early and worst of all, came fast. In the time it took to draw breath, the scenery around them changed, as if it was some kind
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Snapping out of her frozen state as the moaning from the zombies on the other side of the fence intensified, Sheena really didn't have much of a plan as she rushed the horse. She couldn't use a card on it for fear that she'd blow the youkai up as well, so she did the next best thing she could think of; she lowered her shoulder and barreled right into the side of the horse, using her momentum and all the strength of her legs to upend the beast.
The horse crashed to the ground, releasing the youkai's arm in the process, and the ninja fell with it. She did manage to get her hands beneath her to turn the impromptu fall into a hand walkover, but it hurt with that piece of wood in her side. Dropping into a crouch, Sheena had but a moment to see the horse was going to kick, the sleeping youkai right in the path of its hooves.
Dashing between the two, Sheena barely got her hands up in time to block the kick as best as she could, but the shear force sent her backwards, over the youkai, and into the fence. The impact knocked the wind out of her, but thankfully the fence held. Unfortunately, Sheena was too stunned to stop the closest zombie on the other side of the fence from reaching through it to grab a hold of her. She didn't even have the breath to cry out when it bit into her shoulder.
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Scrambling away from the thrashing beast, Yukari glanced about in confusion at the undead legions pressing against the corral fence, attracted by the commotion and warm flesh. The rotting wood was starting to buckle under the moaning masses, but even with the barrier still in place, they were still reaching through and in this case, grabbing a hold of her rescuer.
"Sheena!?" said Yukari with alarm and confusion, still shaking the sleep from her eyes even as her mind tried to get up to speed on the situation. She recalled seeing the zombies before... then finding somewhere else to nap and deciding to sleep on the problem in hopes that it would go away. It hadn't. And now Sheena was getting assaulted and bitten by the rotting fiends.
Still sitting on the dirt where she'd scrambled back from the horse, Yukari's arms shot out in opposite directions towards the animal and the ninja, floating violet gaps opening in the air before each. One of the horse's thrashing legs lashed out into the hole before shooting out of the other portal, coming within inches of Sheena's head. The hoofed foot instead slammed into the face of zombie that was grabbing her, its skull exploding like an overripe melon struck with a bat.
Releasing the gaps, Yukari half-ran, half-stumbled over to Sheena as she got to her feet, quickly grabbing the ninja's arm, the one away from the bitten shoulder, and pulling her away from the fences. Luckily, for now, it seemed like they were safe as the rotting mare seemed unable to right itself and the fences were holding the zombies at bay, though they were beginning to creak ominously.
"What's going on?" she asked. "Are you okay?" seemed like a stupid question; Yukari's arm ached fiercely where the horse had grabbed her, but some bruised bones was nothing compared to the ninja's injuries, now that she had a chance to really look her over. "What happened to you?"
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Sheena was struggling to get air into her lungs, struggling to get herself free of the zombie without it ripping her entire shoulder off, when something she couldn't explain (at the moment) happened. There was the sound of rending flesh, breaking bone, and a warm wetness she wasn't sure if it was her own blood streaming down her back from the bite or if it was something else. The teeth released her, though, and she pushed herself away from the fence and right into the youkai, practically panicking.
It bit her!
"Z-z-zombies!" Sheena exclaimed as an answer to the youkai's question as if that explained everything, which it did in her opinion.
The fence creaked as the undead renewed their attempt to get past the barrier with the ninja's freshly drawn blood pattering onto the ground, painting her once cream colored blouse crimson. The ninja's head whipped around at the fence and she immediately stepped between it and the youkai, her injured arm keeping Yukari behind her, while a single card appeared in her other hand.
"We have to-- Not gonna hold-- Hide-- Barn--" Sheena let out a barely audible whimper as one of the fence rails cracked, wincing at the sound. With a shuddering breath, she threw the card at the horde and formed a seal. As soon as her mana discharged and the pyre seal took effect, the moderate explosion rocking the immediate area, the ninja turned and, grabbing the youkai, bolted into the small barn, out of sight from whatever might have survive her seal.
Sheena didn't know if she'd dragged the youkai, herded her, carried her or if Yukari had run on her own. What she did know was that as soon as they were out of sight, she yanked the youkai into the small space behind the barn door and pressed her against the wall, trying to make the two of them as small as undetectable as possible.
Clamping her hand over Yukari's mouth, just in case she decided to talk, Sheena watched the open space for any zombie intruders. She was shaking with fear, her eyes wide, and her breathing was ragged from the pain. She knew the zombies were attracted to sound, but she also knew they could smell blood. She was in the process of losing quite a bit of it, but she hoped the musky scent of the horse's quarters and that of burning flesh would mask the scent of her own blood.
Hearing the moan of the first zombie to make it through the flames of her seal, the ninja shuddered and her breathing sped up. She wanted this night to end. She wanted to go home. Hell, she wanted to go anywhere she'd be accepted as long as it didn't have zombies.
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That didn't really explain the how, why or when this all started. The look on Sheena's face did tell her "how many", that was to say, "lots". Which, really, was all you needed to know when dealing with zombies.
Yukari couldn't recall how long it had been since she'd last dealt with zombies. At least a century or two, that was for sure. Those zombie fairies that kasha from the underground used didn't count. No, these were good old-fashioned walking, flesh-eating dead. Western-style, judging by the lack of talismans and such. Well, this was America, wasn't it?
There wasn't really time for a more in-depth analysis of the situation as suddenly there was an explosion and Sheena pulled the youkai along towards the barn, ducking inside and hiding behind the door. Yukari was about to speak up about the girl's injuries when a hand clamped over her mouth, urging silence. In the quiet, she could hear the far-off screams and shouts of others. Then there was the low, lifeless moaning as the zombies began to wander into the corral; if they hadn't been about to knock the rotting fence down before, they certainly didn't have that problem now that Sheena had blown a huge hole in it.
They needed to move. Whether or not the smell of Sheena's wounds - which were concerning for a variety of reasons - was masked by the barn and the fire, eventually one of the mindless masses would come in here and after that it could only get worse. Yukari was certainly willing to fight when it served a purpose, but her foremost tactic was subterfuge and evasion. Since it was impossible to try to mess with the minds of that which had none, that left running away. Grabbing the ninja's wrist for attention, she motioned with her head and her other hand towards the back of the barn; it was hard to tell in the dark, but there had to be a way out there. If not, she was sure it wouldn't take much to make one.
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Moving meant they'd have to deal with the zombies again. Moving meant she was going to have to suck up the pain. Right then, she wanted to convince herself that they would be fine, that she was safe right there and that the youkai wouldn't let those nasty corpses bite her again. She wanted it so much...
Closing her eyes briefly, the ninja steeled herself, knowing all that wasn't true and they needed to move. She nodded again, more to herself than Yukari, and then stepped back, freeing the youkai. Turning toward the open doorway, Sheena stumbled a little, having to grab a hold of the door to keep from falling, and then shook herself a little. She could do this. She needed to cover the doorway.
Sheena motioned for Yukari to start investigating the back of the barn.
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Yukari was about to protest when Sheena moved towards the door; having the ninja move closer to the zombies had not been part of the plan. Still, it looked like it was best if Sheena moved around as little as possible, which wouldn't be served by digging around in the back of the barn, and the trade off of having to search by herself was probably compensated by the benefits of having one of them keep an eye on the undead outside. Still, it was a thin border they were treading between fight and flight and Yukari would rather be firmly on the side of the latter in this case.
Moving towards the back as quietly as she could, Yukari carefully stepped around the tools and items strewn about the barn. She moved along the wall until she came to an open knothole through which moonlight was flooding in. Putting her eye up to it, she looked about.
Outside was the back of the pet supply store; much as Yukari had suspected, this barn made up part of the corral's perimeter and the back of it opened to the outside of it. As a bonus, there didn't appear to any zombies in the immediate vicinity, though there appeared to be some commotion in the shop itself; they must have been attracted by the commotion on the other side of the corral before Sheena had blown them up.
Feeling along the wall, she soon located what she was seeking: the door. Only differentiated from the rest of the wall by a larger gap between the rotting planks and the rusting iron hinges, Yukari felt along until she grasped the handle. Smiling with relief, she turned back to the ninja and motioned towards her before realizing she probably couldn't see her.
"Sheena!" she hissed as quietly as possible. "Over here!"
Unfortunately, as she stepped closer so that she didn't need to speak any louder than strictly necessary, Yukari stumbled into a stool, knocking it and the bucket full of brushes and other tools over onto the floor with a clatter that echoed disturbingly loudly in the gloom of this unholy night.
"...whoops."
It was then that, as she pulled at the door with growing urgency, that Yukari found it was locked.
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She looked over when she heard her name, barely picking the youkai up in the darkness. The loud noise Yukari's blunder caused startled the ninja, rocketing her to her feet much faster than her body could handle at the moment. She cried out in pain as the wound in her side tore more and she had to steady herself on the door lest she fall down from the sudden wave of dizziness.
By the time she shook the vertigo away, the trio of zombies had definitely zoned in on them, drawn by the sound. Her fear spiked. "Shit!"
Gritting her teeth, the ninja bolted toward where the youkai was. Along the way, she tripped over something, crashed to the ground, scrambled back up as she heard the zombies' calls reverberating in the barn, and made it to the door. If her shoulder didn't feel like it was on fire, she would have just used her momentum to crash through the door, but she was pretty sure she'd pass out from the pain if she did that. Instead, the ninja spun and kicked the door with everything she had.
The door protested, but then broke open, giving the pair a path away from their current predicament. Which would have been very good if Sheena hadn't stumbled and then fallen to her knees once on the other side of the door, hand clutching the wound at her side.
Get up, Mizuho. Get up!
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Yukari ran outside and knelt by the ninja, glancing over her shoulder back into the barn. She could see the silhouettes of the zombies coming towards them, but luckily, even injured, Sheena had been much faster than them. Whether that still held true was yet to be seen.
"Where to now? Where can we get you patched up?" asked Yukari as she slung the girl's uninjured arm over her shoulder, pulling her to her feet. Unlike the institute, there had been no convenient map provided for this town so she had little knowledge of what was where. The town wasn't big enough to have a hospital, but from what she'd seen on the bus ride over, it seemed like they were remote enough that they probably had at least some kind of doctor's office for local emergencies. It didn't matter if they didn't know where that was though.
They could worry about where to later; getting away from the zombies took priority right now. Adjusting her hold on Sheena she took a tentative step away from the barn and pet place, hoping they could avoid more of the walking dead.
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"Supposed to go back to the hotel... told Soubi and Ritsuka we'd come back after I found you. Third floor, though..."
The ninja's fear of the zombies pushed her to keep moving, fight through the pain, to get away from them. "Don't know where anyone else is." She then clamped her hand down almost painfully on Yukari's shoulder.
"Are you hurt? Did any of them..."
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However, seeing as they didn't know of any other options and who knows what poor Soubi and Ritsuka would think if she didn't come back, it might be what they had to do anyway.
"I'm fine," Yukari said, wincing a little at the ninja's grip. "I think I might have a few bruises, but the horse didn't bite through the jacket or break skin." Her arm was aching in a way that suggesting that she was lucky not to have a broken bone though. "You're the one we should be worrying about."
The wound in her side looked bad, but it was the bite that really concerned her. Whether or not these were infectious zombies aside, there was no way that having a rotting corpse sink its teeth into your and slobbering all over the wound could end in anything but terrible diseases.
"We should get moving," the youkai urged, mostly at the sound of the zombies stumbling through the mess at the back of the barn. "The hotel's just across the street, isn't it?"
[To here]
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