"The Lost", Chapter Eight
Title: The Lost
Chapter: 8/10
Fandom: Arashi
Character, Pairing(s): Sakumoto, Ohmiya
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Explicit sex scenes, graphic violence, language.
Summary: Do you remember me? Lost for so long? Will you be on the other side? Will you forget me?
He was soaking wet- shivering, trembling, and saturated with rain, and Ohno was still tugging on his arm. The bottom of his shoes hit a rock and he stumbled, nearly falling, nearly pulling Ohno down with him, and he choked on the water that was running rivulets down his face and catching in the corners of his mouth.
"Wait," he gasped, because his lungs were burning- he couldn't keep running. There were no longer footsteps behind him- had they lost the infected? Had those wishing to use them as fuel fallen back and left them to flee? "Wait- we can't-"
"We have to keep moving," Ohno said. His fingers didn't detach from Jun's arm.
"No!" Jun cried, wrenching his wrist away. They'd left the other three behind, they'd run into the darkness without stopping to wait. "They're still back there! They might need help! We can't leave them!"
Ohno didn't say anything right away. There was a streetlamp overhead that was nearly hidden by the pouring sheets of rain, and even the orange glow visible through the drops was flickering wildly- everything was falling apart. Everything had been stable; not good, but doable, and now it was crumbling. They'd left, they'd left them behind-
Jun turned around, reacting without knowing he was even moving. "We have to go back to get them."
"No," Ohno called; even his commands were less forceful than others, easier to disregard- or maybe that was just because Jun didn't care what the other man had to say. He wasn't leaving them behind. Sho, Aiba- even Nino, they couldn't just leave them to fend for themselves against the mob.
"I'm going," Jun insisted, and got two steps before Ohno grabbed his arm again. This time, Ohno's fingers were far tighter. Jun couldn't wriggle free, and it almost hurt. Ohno squeezed, and Jun bit back his yelp.
"No," Ohno said again, and this time, there was no arguing with it.
Rage flared hot in Jun's veins, coupled with the adrenaline screaming through his blood. It all mingled together into a white-hot sensation that boiled just beneath his skin. "You may not care about them, but I do, and I'm-"
"Stop!" Ohno demanded. In the dimness of the shuddering streetlight, he finally looked angry. "What good do you think you'll do by going back? You don't even have a weapon!"
Jun's empty fingers clenched involuntarily, even as Ohno's fingers tightened again around his wrist, almost compulsively. "I know you think that it's more important to go back, but it's not. We have to get away, don't you understand? We have to get away."
"But, Nino-" Jun started, swallowing hard.
"I can't do anything for him if I'm dead," Ohno cut in, and his tone warbled ever to slightly- maybe it was just the rain. Maybe it was Jun's imagination. "Don't you see that? We can't help them if we die. We have to get to the meet-up point from the radio."
Jun couldn't wrap his head around it- leaving them couldn't be the right option. "They might need us-"
"They need us to live," Ohno said, and there was more sincerity on his face than Jun had ever seen from the man. It colored his features, softening everything. The weight of his words- and the truth of them, no matter how much Jun rebelled against it- it all sunk in like bags of sand pressing down on Jun's shoulders. "The best thing we can do for them is to live."
Jun's shoulders slumped forward, resigntation clenching his chest.
"I-" he started, and then stopped, putting a hand over his eyes when the hot sting of tears pricked at the corners. "I can't leave."
Ohno's hands on his shoulders weren't forceful, they were solid. "We have to. If we go back, we die. If we go forward, we might live. They'd want us to live, even if they couldn't follow."
No. That couldn't be right- it didn't have to be that way. It couldn't come down to such a sentiment. It didn't matter how much the world had been turned on its axis, Jun couldn't believe that he'd have to live by that philosophy.
But Ohno was standing in front of him with eyes that spoke nothing but truth, and the other three weren't behind him, weren't next to him, Sho's hand wasn't brushing the back of his-
There was laughter behind Ohno's form. Maniacal, high pitched laughter- Jun's body tensed painfully as his heart fell to his stomach. There was a bump, like a body running into something, and then the laughter intensified. It was coming from the open warehouse just behind them.
Ohno met Jun's eye quickly, just for a second, and he spun with one hand moving down to his paddle, but the creature behind him was quicker. A crate flew out of the darkness and hit Ohno's shoulder, grazing his head. It didn't knock him out- the aim was off- but it propelled him over to one side, and he tumbled to the ground in a heap.
"No!" Jun cried- the figure was lunging for the other man on the concrete. Lunging and laughing, with hands outstretched like claws.
He leapt at the Infected, shoulder-first. He didn't have much momentum starting from a stationary position, but it was enough to send the creature reeling. It shrieked in anger, almost forming words- not quite. When Jun pushed it back he could see more of it in the light from the street lamp. It's face was nearly completely gone, eaten away until the only flesh remaining was bloody and black. It had long since lost its lips, but the eyes were still there, skin peeled away from the sockets so the orbs were impossibly round.
Jun wanted to throw up; the bile burned the back of his throat.
Ohno was still getting to his feet, but the Infected was faster- there was something singing in its veins that they couldn't fathom, something driving it that was nearly impossible to understand. All it felt was rage- and the rage was focused on Jun now.
Jun reached for Ohno's paddle, but the Infected lurched towards him with a rattling screech, and he was forced to roll away. He hit the wall of the warehouse and glanced inside, trying to find another way out- he couldn't see much in the rain and his hair in his face, but he saw the glint of something metal in the dim street light that swept inside.
An axe.
He practically jumped towards it.
The Infected screamed again, and this one sounded like it might have been coherent once, back when the thing had still possessed a face. It was on his heels as his fingers closed around the handle of the weapon, and he turned already swinging. He grazed its arm a little, and the weight of the tool surprised him, threw him off balance.
It howled- the creature howled. It was so horrible that Jun wanted to cover his ears; instead, he swung with more precision as the thing was shrieking.
The axe slid through skin and bone with only a few angry cracks and one awful suctioning noise, and the Infected's left hand hit the ground. Jun didn't know anything about dismemberment- Christ, he'd never cut off anyone's arm before- and he wasn't expecting the angry spray of blood that followed. He rolled out of the way to avoid getting hit, and kicked at the back of the Infected's knee.
It went down, jerked twice, and then laid still, crimson pooling at the shoulder where the skin had once been attached.
Jun stared at the body until Ohno's arms hauled him up away from the ground, axe clattering to the concrete.
"Don't touch the blood," the other man said. Without his help, Jun might not have been able to move- he couldn't stop staring at the corpse lying at his feet.
"I-" Jun started, and then nearly choked on another hot wave of bile in the back of his throat. "I think some got on my jeans."
"It's okay," Ohno said. "We can wash that. Just don't let it get in your eyes or mouth."
Spread through fluids- that's why they were drinking bottled water. Jagged pieces were coming together, matching up so well it hurt. Jun closed his eyes and stumbled away from the Infected body- the rain would get the blood out of his denim long before they would have to do anything to it.
He was trembling something awful, and Ohno's fingers gently touched his elbow. "We should go."
"Yeah," Jun whispered, mouth oddly dry. "I- yeah."
He couldn't think of anything else as they fled into the night and the steady rain.
--
The hours blurred and stretched like they had in the safety center. But instead of wondering what was happening outside, he was outside now. The first night, he and Satoshi stopped at an abandoned dry cleaners. They ate hard rice cakes and drank oolong tea that had probably expired weeks ago. He didn’t get more than an hour of continuous sleep - and neither of them could sleep at the same time. They’d grown too lax before, which was why they were in this fucked up mess now.
“I was getting ready for a fishing trip,” Ohno told him when they prepared to leave in the morning. Jun took a metal pole, tossing hangers with clothes to the shop floor. Nobody was coming to pick these things up. “I just needed a new lure, really.”
He stayed quiet as they left the store, swinging the stolen makeshift weapon. It whooshed through the air as the sun rose in the distance. They had to keep moving east, toward the ocean.
“I’d seen the news report,” Satoshi continued, in the same calm voice as always. “They told people to stay home, but I was so excited for my trip.”
The news report Jin had switched off, he remembered bitterly.
“So I just went to the mall. So did a lot of people. There were so many people out there. Nobody thought it was bad. When they released the news report, they said it would probably be contained by the end of the day.”
Jun nodded. Speaking, sharing memories - this was how they’d keep going. This was how they’d stay alive so they could find the others again. He needed to borrow some of that motivation that kept Aiba moving, even after losing everything. He’d made a promise to him, hadn’t he? That they were family now?
Ohno wasn’t one to talk, but now that it was just the two of them, alone, there was nothing else to do. They found a rail line, an entire train full of bodies abandoned in the middle of the tracks.
“Let’s follow this east,” he said, and Ohno nodded.
“Riskier.”
He shrugged. “I’ll trust a straight line to the coast than getting lost in the streets.”
It was definitely more open here - they could be attacked from any side. But he’d prefer seeing them coming, even if there were more. Jun tightened his grip around the metal. What would it feel like, knocking it against someone’s skull as they tried clawing at his face?
They kept walking, passing more bodies on the tracks. The hours passed, and they talked about odd things, strange things. Gossip about celebrities who may have escaped on their jets. About the best place for ramen in Tokyo and how Ohno’s mom made good hotpot dishes. Normal things like baseball and video games and hobbies. Before everything had gone to hell, Ohno had worked as an artist’s assistant in a gallery. He hoped to open one and display his own work someday. All five of them had ambitions and dreams - but would any of them ever come true now?
In the late afternoon a family, a damn family with a mother, father and child came screaming out of one of the stations along the line. The child wasn’t gone yet - but his parents were rotting, and Jun didn’t even hesitate as he swung the pole like a baseball bat. The sound against the father’s head was sickening, and he had to dodge back to avoid the spray.
He heard the child’s inhuman howl as his father fell at Jun’s feet, and his mother a few paces away, body knocking against the metal rail of the train track from Ohno’s blow. The child looked back and forth between them, eyes wide and haunted. His mouth was smeared with blood, and he was still wearing his backpack. He couldn’t have been older than eight or nine.
His lips moved, trying to form the words for “Mommy,” Jun could just tell. His parents had been so much further along. What had they made this kid do? Had the child gone along with it just to have his parents around? Had he faked it all just so they wouldn’t turn their bloodlust on him?
The child screeched again, and Jun already had blood on the weapon. This was mercy, wasn’t it? The boy leapt, dodging Jun’s first swing. Nino and Ohno had been right - the disease did affect people differently. Children were already quick and full of energy. Ohno swung the paddle. Another miss.
They had to hurry, or the screeching might alert more in the neighborhood. The kid pulled off his backpack, throwing it at Jun. He batted it down, and the child was charging. Ohno swung again, and there was blood in his vision. Jun fell back on his ass. Blood, there was blood on him. There was blood…blood on him.
He turned his head. Everywhere, blood everywhere. “Jun,” Ohno was saying, reaching for him. “Jun, calm down.”
He tried to shove Ohno’s hands away. “Don’t touch me. I might be…I might…” His heart nearly stopped, and he felt the wooden railroad ties under his back. No, no, he couldn’t be.
“Jun!” His world blurred as Ohno yanked the glasses off of his face, holding them gingerly through his shirt sleeve. “It just got on here a little. Some on your face. Just make sure it didn’t get in your mouth.”
The sky was full of cheerful white clouds, for all that he could see them clearly. And yet there was a dead father, a dead mother and a dead child on the ground near him. He stayed on his back, trying desperately to calm down as Ohno cleaned the frames with a bottle of water that was supposed to get them through the night. He wasn’t infected. He was safe. He’d overreacted. Again. “I’m sorry.”
Ohno was quiet for a while, focused on scrubbing the glasses clean. “Don’t be. You’re not half as difficult as Kazunari.”
“Hmm?” he asked.
Satoshi gave his glasses back and helped him to his feet. They kept their march eastward, and several minutes passed before he got an answer.
“It was when we were trying to get out of the mall. We found each other on the fifth day. He’d left his store, found mine. He just had that game controller, wanted something to attach to it. But he found me.” They continued walking, and from his slumped shoulders, Jun could tell that Ohno missed Nino terribly.
“The mall had gotten bad. It got bad fast. There were people in the vents. Not that many in my store, but in his, it was apparently awful. He hadn’t slept in days, probably thought he was in a video game. He actually tried to kill me in my sleep the first night.” Ohno sighed. “Don’t tell him I told you. He felt really bad about it.”
The guy had tried to kill him, and yet Ohno still adored him? At least he and Sho had never…
Thinking about Sho wasn’t going to get him anywhere.
“But you,” Jun said slowly. “You and he are…”
Ohno shrugged. “I said he felt really bad about it.”
“Do you love him?”
He regretted it as soon as he blurted it out, but Ohno considered the question. “I’ve only known him for a month.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”
“He’s all I have now.” Satoshi tapped the paddle against the rail as they walked. “I’m going to see him again. If you believe that, you’ll see Sho again too.”
Jun stopped, watching Ohno continue walking with that same steady pace he had every day since they’d met. He was more observant than Jun had thought.
But Aiba had believed he’d see his family again, he thought bitterly. He jogged, hurrying to keep up as they continued on their lonely path.
Kujukuri Town was quiet when they reached the far end of it.
The only way Jun knew day from night was the sun anymore- they didn't have a watch between the two of them, so the orb overhead was their indicator of how much time they had left in a day. It had taken three to get to the outskirts of town, and it felt like infinitely more. Jun was more tired than he'd ever been in his life. Marching on blistered feet without much food or rest was taxing, and not just physically; he could no longer turn his thoughts off. They screamed through his head like rabid dogs waiting to attack, and he couldn't push them aside.
Ohno's feet stopped when he hit the curb of the first road that intercepted the rail line they'd been following so diligently. "Think this is it."
"What was the address?" Jun asked.
"23-something Beach Line," Ohno said, with a frown. They hadn't thought that they would need to remember it, not with Nino writing it down. Just another thing they had overlooked while falling into the lull of false security- they could never get so lax again. Jun's back was in knots and he wasn't sure they would ever fully disappear.
"Beach Line," Jun mused. He scanned the horizon with one hand over his eyes- the sun was on its way down again, already turning orange. "So near the coast. Probably all the way through town from here."
Ohno nodded, tapping the toe of his shoes against his paddle. "It's our best bet."
They started moving again. As the sun fell further, they got closer to the ocean, and Jun could smell the salty spray. It was comforting in a weird way- the ocean was a constant. Japan and its people might have fallen apart, but the waves would always be there, just as they always had been, crashing up against the side of the rocks. It was one thing they could count on in a sea of everything they couldn't, and Jun was glad for it.
It wasn't until the sky had considerably darkened that he saw the sign for the Beach Line, and he pointed at it, gesturing to get Ohno's attention. "Look."
"So 23-something," Ohno said.
"Wait," Jun stopped him, as Ohno was about to start walking again. "It's almost nighttime, and we heard the location over a radio transmission. It could be a trap."
It was the same thing Nino had said, and Jun wondered if the echo was in Ohno's ears, too.
Ohno considered this, and there was silence between them to where Jun could hear the familiar rhythm of the waves against the shore. It sounded like the thumping of his own heart. They could be walking into God knows what- a booby trap, an ambush, a pile of rotting bodies used to draw them near, anything. He swallowed down his fear; they had to at least try.
They had nothing else left to lose.
"Let's just check it out," Ohno suggested. "We don't have to go in- just see what it is."
It was reasonable. "Okay."
They started forward again, slower. Subdued. There was a heavy tension in the air all around him and Jun didn't know what it was from. Was this the end of the line? What if the location was a fake- and what if it was real? Where could they go in a boat that would be safe, safe from the infection that had ravaged absolutely everything?
He wanted to both drag his feet and break into a sprint.
Jun didn't know what they were looking for- most of the buildings didn't have numbers on the sides. When they reached the middle of the road they lost count completely of what building was next to them. Without knowing it, they could have passed the meet-up location completely. Ohno gestured in towards a small bakery, perched on the corner of two streets. "Let's check inside, see what the address is."
It was very dark inside, and when Jun flipped the light switch, only half of a bulb sputtered on- the glass had been broken in the lamps. It made it difficult to see anything, especially with night rapidly approaching outside. Ohno began checking through drawers and papers, trying to find something with an address on it.
Jun didn't even hear the footsteps until there were hands and the outline of a screaming mouth pressed against the window to his right. He jumped so much he dropped his pole, and the weapon fell to the ground with a clatter. He spun, but there was another in the doorway, with only half a head of hair and skin sliding down its scalp. It lunged, and Jun ducked, narrowly missing the rake of the fingernails poised to pierce skin.
Ohno was behind the counter, and his paddle was still between two shelves. He didn't have enough time to grab it- he fell when the Infected at the window crashed through the pane completely, and Jun could hear his shoulder hit the bottom of the bakery case.
He needed a weapon- his pole was lying a few meters away.
The Infected nearest to him screeched, and her tongue was gone; just gone, completely gone, and there was only blackness inside her cracked, blood-covered lips. Jun tried to roll and reach the pole, but it was just beyond his fingertips, and the Infected stomped down hard on his arm.
He choked out an exclamation of pain, clutching his wrist- the sting of pain was already up his arm, throbbing, and then the Infected was lunging for him again. He kicked upwards. His aim was terrible, but his shoe made contact anyway, and he heard the crunch of ribs cracking as the creature stumbled backwards with a gurgle of pain.
Ohno was still trapped behind the case without anything to fight with. And there were more outside the door, moving forward with stilted leaps.
"Ohno!" Jun cried, and it was nearly lost amidst the screaming of the Infected. They were surrounding them, barreling in, and they were trapped in a stupid, shack of a building- had that been the plan? Had the half-dead been lying in wait for someone to enter one of the easily ambushed areas?
Had it all been one big trap they'd willingly walked into?
Jun's pole was too far away, and there was a figure lurching at him. He squeezed his eyes shut out of instinct- maybe they'd go for his jugular, and let him bleed out quickly. He didn't want to be alive when they started tearing at his flesh. His heart caught in his throat and he stopped breathing, and he could only think that he wasn't at all ready to die.
There was an angry yell from the doorway, and the skid of shoes against pavement. Jun only opened his eyes because it sounded distinctly un-hoarse- not like the Infected. He cracked his lids open to see bodies flying to either side as something thin and silver swooped through the air with a hiss.
A golf club- Aiba and his 5 wood.
It gave Jun enough time to scramble back to his feet, breath coming in shallow wheezes, and he dove for his pole. He got a good smack against the back of an Infected still on its feet, and he could feel the vibrations through through the metal when the skull burst like a watermelon. It sent shivers down his spine that he tried desperately to ignore.
There was more movement from the door in the form of a baseball bat swinging, and the cracking noise it made when it collided with the last remaining Infected still on its feet resounded through the small building. Then there was a very long, collective silence, and Jun struggled to right his world again.
Sho took one step forward from the doorway, and Nino threw up a hand in front of him. "No!"
Jun had never seen the shorter man look so unnerved, hair in every direction, eyes wide and fingers trembling. His other hand was firmly around his controller-whip as he stared past Jun's shoulder at Ohno, rising to his feet behind the counter.
"What was the first thing I said to you?" Nino demanded, sounding strangled. It took Jun a long second to figure out what he was doing- testing them. He was testing their memory; if they couldn't answer the questions, it meant they were infected, didn't it? If they couldn't recall the memories-
"Are you dead?" Ohno replied dutifully.
Nino's arm lowered a fraction of an inch- barely noticeable. "How many nights did we spend in the bank before they found us?"
"Two," Ohno said, and his voice was softer.
Jun could see Nino's throat bob when the other man swallowed. "What- what did you promise me you would do when we got out of Japan alive?"
Ohno's response was so quiet that Jun nearly missed it. "Paint you."
Everything on Nino's face changed, broke- the mask fell apart as all the adrenaline seemed to leave his body at once. "Satoshi," he gasped, stumbling forward over bodies without any regard to round the counter and throw his arms around Ohno. And then there was a bundle of shaking limbs that wrapped itself around Jun completely.
"We thought you were dead!" Aiba cried into his shoulder, hands clutching the back of Jun's shirt like a lifeline. "We thought they got you, we thought you were dead-"
Jun hugged him back, inhaling the scent of someone still living, still breathing. "Not dead."
He could see Sho over Aiba's trembling shoulder, but couldn't read the expression on his face.
"We found the address," Nino said, upon detangling himself from Ohno- he still sounded shaky, but far more in control again. "It's a 7-11 down the street. There's an apartment just across from it where we can watch to see if any of them go inside. I say we watch it for a night, and make sure it's clean."
The 7-11 was a little shady looking, but there weren't any bodies that Jun could see around it- he wasn't sure if it was a good sign or not. The apartment Nino had talked about was high, and lacked fire escapes, which Jun was glad for. They shoved several bookcases in front of the windows anyway, just in case, and all settled down in the living room in a circle. No one wanted to sleep anywhere else- there was safety in numbers.
He stared up at the ceiling for a long time, listening to the heavy, rhythmic breathing around him, until there was a tap on his shoulder, and Sho hovering above him with a finger in front of his lips for quiet.
Jun followed him out into the hall, down the corridor and into another apartment near the corner. His nerves were shot, and his head was throbbing, and he hadn't really even shared a glance with Sho since meeting back up again- there hadn't been time. Hadn't been time or the right moment, and he wasn't entirely prepared to deal with the fallout from the panicked state he'd been in.
But as soon as the portal closed behind him, Sho's mouth was on his, hot and demanding. Jun's back hit the door and Sho's hands were in his hair, at his sides, up and under the fabric of his shirt. They commanded more- they commanded everything.
"I thought I lost you," Sho whispered, against Jun's neck, nipping and biting and fingers slipping down to trail past the waistband of his pants. "I thought I lost you and I'm not waiting anymore."
"Senpai," Jun gasped, and bucked into Sho's palm. It had been forever since he'd felt those fingers curling around his cock. Jun let his hands grab at Sho's shirt, pulling at it and pushing the other man backwards so that his back was no longer against the door. He kissed Sho hard, and groaned against his lips. "Sho-"
There wasn't time to explore and memorize. Time wasn't something they could count on anymore, no longer something they could set their actions by; time was the enemy, barreling down like the infection raging outside. They might not make it- they didn't have time. It was fast and frenzied and a whirlpool of emotion that welled up in Jun's chest like he was drowning and sucking in nothing but lungfuls of water.
It was all hot hands and seeking fingers and Sho turned him around so he was leaning over the kitchen counter of whoever had previously lived in the studio apartment. He grasped the edge of the marble so hard his knuckles turned white.
"Jun," Sho was moaning, grinding his hips against Jun's thighs- it made Jun's vision go slightly white at the edges, all white-hot fire in his blood. The buckle on his pants came undone with deftness, and the denim pooled around his ankles.
A finger slicked with the cold shock of petroleum jelly that Sho had pulled from his pocket. "Oh, please," Jun whispered, and it took a moment to realize the pleas were falling from his own lips. His muscles were shaking from arousal and exertion, elbows locked to keep himself upright. "Oh, please."
Sho's free hand was on his arm, almost like a gentle reassurance despite the tightness of his grasp. There wasn't time to second-guess, there wasn't time to make it romantic; though it was anyway, in a way, or at least Jun thought wildly that it was when Sho finally slid inside him completely, wrenching a hitching moan from his throat.
"Oh-" was all Jun could get out for a long while, and Sho had the presence to still a bit. There was a moment in which Jun thought he'd demand Sho stop immediately, and then Sho shifted with a gasp and hit something that sent a jolt all the way down to Jun's toes pressed up against the edge of the counter. Jun very nearly almost whimpered. "Oh move, oh please move."
It was so fast. Jun wasn't sure if he was sweating from nerves, or tension, or friction- or all three rolled together. When Sho sped up he moved his hips back into each thrust without thinking about it, body screaming on overdrive. The pings of pleasure were so fast in coming that they were multiplying over on themselves, and he had to bite down hard on his bottom lip to keep from crying out. He just bucked into the rhythm and saw the posters from his dorm room, the Infected outside, the spray of blood, Sho's hands, Sho's mouth-
Sho was either groaning or gasping, and maybe it was both. Most of it was a garbled version of Jun's name between hissing intakes of oxygen. "Shit, ah, shit-"
His hands had swept around Jun's hips to pump his length. It was too much, too fast; coupled with the drain from the day and the fear that was always lingering in the back of his mind, Jun couldn't hold on any longer. He came in Sho's palm and almost couldn't keep his balance when the orgasm rippled through him.
It took a few seconds to regain control of his breathing, and even then, with Sho's hips smacking into his ass still, it was difficult. Sho's fingers around his arm tightened suddenly, and the other man choked out something that sounded like fuck, fuck, I'm going to come and then Jun could feel Sho's body tense and twitch.
The shock of loss was keen when Sho slid out a minute later, and Jun slumped forward a bit over the counter. Every nerve in his body was screaming for rest- the lack of sleep for days was catching up too quickly.
Sho wrapped his arms around Jun's shoulders and kissed his neck. "Did I hurt you?"
"No," Jun laughed. They stayed like that for a long while before Jun spoke again. "Don't do that again. Falling behind, I mean. I was scared."
"I know," Sho whispered. "We just lost you in the rain, and they were everywhere. Nino- he said you'd go towards the radio source."
Jun leaned his head back to let his temple rest against Sho's. "Ohno said the same thing."
Sho finally pulled away, and Jun pulled his jeans back up. His fingers were still shaking. He finally understood Nino and Ohno now, and the desperation that sometimes tinged the undertones of their words. There was something about clinging to another person in the darkness of the situation.
They crept quietly back to the apartment the others were in and retook their positions on the living room floor. Sho's hand found Jun's in the darkness, squeezing once.
And for the first time in days, Jun actually slept.
--
He was the first one awake. Somehow during the night, Sho had rolled over and nearly wrapped himself completely around him. Not that Jun minded.
Ohno, Nino and Aiba were all lumped together, limbs tangled. He brushed his fingers across Sho’s forehead. He hadn’t disappeared or run off. Sho groaned a bit, cracking an eye open. “Hi,” Jun whispered.
“Hi.” Sho pulled back a bit, stretching. They stared at each other, the memory of last night leaving the them numb. He licked his lips, remembering what had happened in the other apartment. It would be difficult to stay apart. Sho finally broke the silence. “What time is it?”
“Morning,” was all Jun could really tell him. He sat up, limbs cracking. He got to his feet, holding his hand out for Sho. They tiptoed around the others’ sleeping forms, making their way to the window. They looked out through the blinds.
The streets were deserted. It had rained during the night, and the sky was finally clearing. But the 7-11’s door was open. He put a hand on Sho’s arm. “Do you think...?”
“What’s going on?” Nino was behind them, and Jun snatched his hand back, but the shorter man was already rolling his eyes.
“Someone might be in the 7-11,” Sho mumbled. Nino elbowed his way between them, and Jun sighed. He pulled up the blinds noisily, and all three of them stared out across the damp parking lot. There were posters in the store windows, limiting their view of the inside.
“We should go check it out,” Jun said. “Maybe it’s the guy from the radio.”
“And maybe,” Nino interrupted, “it’s a bunch of freaking zombies or people raiding the store. We wait.”
“Wait? For how long?” Sho grumbled.
Not very long - the three of them froze as they spotted movement around the side of the building. He felt Sho clutch at his side, fumbling for his hand. Jun took it, squeezing hard as they saw two men about their age creep around the building. They made their way to the front of the store, their footsteps quick and determined. One’s arm was nearly black from the infection, and the other was missing...
“His face,” Nino muttered. “Jesus.”
“Close the blinds,” Sho said. “What if they look up...”
The three of them nearly jumped out of their skin at the sound of the gunshots. The first sent the one with the rotted face flying into the parking lot, blood splattering on the pavement. The next two shots got the other one, sending him through the glass of the convenience store window, splitting his head on the curb.
He thought he was going to break Sho’s hand he was holding it so tightly. But the infected ones were gone. Decisively gone. A young man emerged from the store, no older than them with wide eyes, hands tight around a hunting rifle.
“Where the hell did this guy get a gun?” Jun asked. The man checked the corpses, poking them with the barrel of the rifle. Jun felt movement behind him - the gun blasts had woken Aiba and Ohno.
“What’s going on?” Aiba asked nervously. “Who’s shooting at us?”
“Not at us,” Nino informed them. “I think we found our saviors.”
--
The five of them packed up quickly, making sure they had their weapons. There was no easy way to approach a guy with a hunting rifle. “Should we announce ourselves?” Sho asked, hands tight around his bat.
“Well I don’t feel like getting shot in the face today,” Nino replied, walking behind Ohno.
They emerged from the apartment building and waited at the edge of the parking lot. Jun looked from person to person, seeing four nervous faces. “So how do we...?”
“Hey! Rifle guy!” Aiba shouted, stepping forward. “Hey! We heard you on the radio!”
“Masaki!” Sho hissed.
“Hey! We’re not infected!” Aiba continued. Jun’s stomach twisted. He was going to get them all shot.
Another panel of the 7-11’s glass shattered, the gunshot echoing out across the parking lot as the five of them hit the ground. “Shit!” Nino shouted, covering his head.
The guy with the rifle stepped over the glass, hovering in the convenience store entryway. He had light hair and a dark green military-looking jacket. He aimed across at them. “You honestly think I believe you?”
Aiba got to his feet first. “We can prove it! We’re not rotting. We still have all our memories!”
“Think I never heard that before?”
A woman came up behind him, squeezing the gunman’s shoulder. Her clothes were dirty, and she looked exhausted. But as soon as she made her presence known, the man lowered the weapon. The rest of them slowly got to their feet.
“Put your weapons down,” the woman ordered but not unkindly. “Please.”
“Ai...”
“It’s okay,” she told the man, her boyfriend Jun guessed from the intimate way they stood together. She took a step forward. “You heard the radio broadcast?”
Ohno nodded, setting his paddle down. He held his hands out and stepped forward to stand at Aiba’s side. “We did. We were in Chiba City. The night of the 14th. You said come to Kujukuri Town. Something about boats. We didn’t catch all of it.”
The woman smiled. “That was us.” She walked toward them as they all set their weapons down and held their hands up. “We didn’t think anyone would come. We’ve been down the road, watching from that apartment building down that street.”
The man looked furious. “Don’t tell them that!”
But the woman kept walking until she was standing in front of Aiba. They had no time to think as she pulled a handgun from the back of her filthy jeans and pointed it right in Aiba’s face. “I’m sorry, but we can’t trust you.”
Aiba was shaking. “Yeah, trust the woman. Great plan,” Jun heard Nino muttering behind him.
She shook her head. “We want to believe you. But there’s five of you, and just Toma and me. Please, don’t panic.”
“You’re pointing a gun in his face,” Sho pointed out.
“Some of them are clever,” she said. “If you’ve been out here as long as we have, then you know that too. You’ll come into the store. We’ll check to see if you’re infected.”
“Check how?” Jun asked.
“We’re going to check your skin.” The four of them exchanged nervous glances, save Aiba who was stock still. She waved the gun a bit. “We’ve got a boat. If you’d like to be on it, then you’ll come into the store.”
“On one condition,” Aiba said quietly.
“Name it.”
“We check you too,” he answered.
The woman raised an eyebrow. “Toma?” she called loudly, not taking her focus away from Aiba.
“I have to take my clothes off in front of these guys?”
She sighed. “We’re asking the same of them!” The guy, Toma, looked annoyed but turned around and headed into the store. The woman cleared her throat. “You have a deal. Into the store please. Leave the weapons here.”
Sho stuck close to him as they followed the woman into the store. “Didn’t think I’d be getting naked in front of strangers this morning,” he muttered.
“No shit,” Jun answered. This would be interesting.
Chapter: 8/10
Fandom: Arashi
Character, Pairing(s): Sakumoto, Ohmiya
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Explicit sex scenes, graphic violence, language.
Summary: Do you remember me? Lost for so long? Will you be on the other side? Will you forget me?
He was soaking wet- shivering, trembling, and saturated with rain, and Ohno was still tugging on his arm. The bottom of his shoes hit a rock and he stumbled, nearly falling, nearly pulling Ohno down with him, and he choked on the water that was running rivulets down his face and catching in the corners of his mouth.
"Wait," he gasped, because his lungs were burning- he couldn't keep running. There were no longer footsteps behind him- had they lost the infected? Had those wishing to use them as fuel fallen back and left them to flee? "Wait- we can't-"
"We have to keep moving," Ohno said. His fingers didn't detach from Jun's arm.
"No!" Jun cried, wrenching his wrist away. They'd left the other three behind, they'd run into the darkness without stopping to wait. "They're still back there! They might need help! We can't leave them!"
Ohno didn't say anything right away. There was a streetlamp overhead that was nearly hidden by the pouring sheets of rain, and even the orange glow visible through the drops was flickering wildly- everything was falling apart. Everything had been stable; not good, but doable, and now it was crumbling. They'd left, they'd left them behind-
Jun turned around, reacting without knowing he was even moving. "We have to go back to get them."
"No," Ohno called; even his commands were less forceful than others, easier to disregard- or maybe that was just because Jun didn't care what the other man had to say. He wasn't leaving them behind. Sho, Aiba- even Nino, they couldn't just leave them to fend for themselves against the mob.
"I'm going," Jun insisted, and got two steps before Ohno grabbed his arm again. This time, Ohno's fingers were far tighter. Jun couldn't wriggle free, and it almost hurt. Ohno squeezed, and Jun bit back his yelp.
"No," Ohno said again, and this time, there was no arguing with it.
Rage flared hot in Jun's veins, coupled with the adrenaline screaming through his blood. It all mingled together into a white-hot sensation that boiled just beneath his skin. "You may not care about them, but I do, and I'm-"
"Stop!" Ohno demanded. In the dimness of the shuddering streetlight, he finally looked angry. "What good do you think you'll do by going back? You don't even have a weapon!"
Jun's empty fingers clenched involuntarily, even as Ohno's fingers tightened again around his wrist, almost compulsively. "I know you think that it's more important to go back, but it's not. We have to get away, don't you understand? We have to get away."
"But, Nino-" Jun started, swallowing hard.
"I can't do anything for him if I'm dead," Ohno cut in, and his tone warbled ever to slightly- maybe it was just the rain. Maybe it was Jun's imagination. "Don't you see that? We can't help them if we die. We have to get to the meet-up point from the radio."
Jun couldn't wrap his head around it- leaving them couldn't be the right option. "They might need us-"
"They need us to live," Ohno said, and there was more sincerity on his face than Jun had ever seen from the man. It colored his features, softening everything. The weight of his words- and the truth of them, no matter how much Jun rebelled against it- it all sunk in like bags of sand pressing down on Jun's shoulders. "The best thing we can do for them is to live."
Jun's shoulders slumped forward, resigntation clenching his chest.
"I-" he started, and then stopped, putting a hand over his eyes when the hot sting of tears pricked at the corners. "I can't leave."
Ohno's hands on his shoulders weren't forceful, they were solid. "We have to. If we go back, we die. If we go forward, we might live. They'd want us to live, even if they couldn't follow."
No. That couldn't be right- it didn't have to be that way. It couldn't come down to such a sentiment. It didn't matter how much the world had been turned on its axis, Jun couldn't believe that he'd have to live by that philosophy.
But Ohno was standing in front of him with eyes that spoke nothing but truth, and the other three weren't behind him, weren't next to him, Sho's hand wasn't brushing the back of his-
There was laughter behind Ohno's form. Maniacal, high pitched laughter- Jun's body tensed painfully as his heart fell to his stomach. There was a bump, like a body running into something, and then the laughter intensified. It was coming from the open warehouse just behind them.
Ohno met Jun's eye quickly, just for a second, and he spun with one hand moving down to his paddle, but the creature behind him was quicker. A crate flew out of the darkness and hit Ohno's shoulder, grazing his head. It didn't knock him out- the aim was off- but it propelled him over to one side, and he tumbled to the ground in a heap.
"No!" Jun cried- the figure was lunging for the other man on the concrete. Lunging and laughing, with hands outstretched like claws.
He leapt at the Infected, shoulder-first. He didn't have much momentum starting from a stationary position, but it was enough to send the creature reeling. It shrieked in anger, almost forming words- not quite. When Jun pushed it back he could see more of it in the light from the street lamp. It's face was nearly completely gone, eaten away until the only flesh remaining was bloody and black. It had long since lost its lips, but the eyes were still there, skin peeled away from the sockets so the orbs were impossibly round.
Jun wanted to throw up; the bile burned the back of his throat.
Ohno was still getting to his feet, but the Infected was faster- there was something singing in its veins that they couldn't fathom, something driving it that was nearly impossible to understand. All it felt was rage- and the rage was focused on Jun now.
Jun reached for Ohno's paddle, but the Infected lurched towards him with a rattling screech, and he was forced to roll away. He hit the wall of the warehouse and glanced inside, trying to find another way out- he couldn't see much in the rain and his hair in his face, but he saw the glint of something metal in the dim street light that swept inside.
An axe.
He practically jumped towards it.
The Infected screamed again, and this one sounded like it might have been coherent once, back when the thing had still possessed a face. It was on his heels as his fingers closed around the handle of the weapon, and he turned already swinging. He grazed its arm a little, and the weight of the tool surprised him, threw him off balance.
It howled- the creature howled. It was so horrible that Jun wanted to cover his ears; instead, he swung with more precision as the thing was shrieking.
The axe slid through skin and bone with only a few angry cracks and one awful suctioning noise, and the Infected's left hand hit the ground. Jun didn't know anything about dismemberment- Christ, he'd never cut off anyone's arm before- and he wasn't expecting the angry spray of blood that followed. He rolled out of the way to avoid getting hit, and kicked at the back of the Infected's knee.
It went down, jerked twice, and then laid still, crimson pooling at the shoulder where the skin had once been attached.
Jun stared at the body until Ohno's arms hauled him up away from the ground, axe clattering to the concrete.
"Don't touch the blood," the other man said. Without his help, Jun might not have been able to move- he couldn't stop staring at the corpse lying at his feet.
"I-" Jun started, and then nearly choked on another hot wave of bile in the back of his throat. "I think some got on my jeans."
"It's okay," Ohno said. "We can wash that. Just don't let it get in your eyes or mouth."
Spread through fluids- that's why they were drinking bottled water. Jagged pieces were coming together, matching up so well it hurt. Jun closed his eyes and stumbled away from the Infected body- the rain would get the blood out of his denim long before they would have to do anything to it.
He was trembling something awful, and Ohno's fingers gently touched his elbow. "We should go."
"Yeah," Jun whispered, mouth oddly dry. "I- yeah."
He couldn't think of anything else as they fled into the night and the steady rain.
--
The hours blurred and stretched like they had in the safety center. But instead of wondering what was happening outside, he was outside now. The first night, he and Satoshi stopped at an abandoned dry cleaners. They ate hard rice cakes and drank oolong tea that had probably expired weeks ago. He didn’t get more than an hour of continuous sleep - and neither of them could sleep at the same time. They’d grown too lax before, which was why they were in this fucked up mess now.
“I was getting ready for a fishing trip,” Ohno told him when they prepared to leave in the morning. Jun took a metal pole, tossing hangers with clothes to the shop floor. Nobody was coming to pick these things up. “I just needed a new lure, really.”
He stayed quiet as they left the store, swinging the stolen makeshift weapon. It whooshed through the air as the sun rose in the distance. They had to keep moving east, toward the ocean.
“I’d seen the news report,” Satoshi continued, in the same calm voice as always. “They told people to stay home, but I was so excited for my trip.”
The news report Jin had switched off, he remembered bitterly.
“So I just went to the mall. So did a lot of people. There were so many people out there. Nobody thought it was bad. When they released the news report, they said it would probably be contained by the end of the day.”
Jun nodded. Speaking, sharing memories - this was how they’d keep going. This was how they’d stay alive so they could find the others again. He needed to borrow some of that motivation that kept Aiba moving, even after losing everything. He’d made a promise to him, hadn’t he? That they were family now?
Ohno wasn’t one to talk, but now that it was just the two of them, alone, there was nothing else to do. They found a rail line, an entire train full of bodies abandoned in the middle of the tracks.
“Let’s follow this east,” he said, and Ohno nodded.
“Riskier.”
He shrugged. “I’ll trust a straight line to the coast than getting lost in the streets.”
It was definitely more open here - they could be attacked from any side. But he’d prefer seeing them coming, even if there were more. Jun tightened his grip around the metal. What would it feel like, knocking it against someone’s skull as they tried clawing at his face?
They kept walking, passing more bodies on the tracks. The hours passed, and they talked about odd things, strange things. Gossip about celebrities who may have escaped on their jets. About the best place for ramen in Tokyo and how Ohno’s mom made good hotpot dishes. Normal things like baseball and video games and hobbies. Before everything had gone to hell, Ohno had worked as an artist’s assistant in a gallery. He hoped to open one and display his own work someday. All five of them had ambitions and dreams - but would any of them ever come true now?
In the late afternoon a family, a damn family with a mother, father and child came screaming out of one of the stations along the line. The child wasn’t gone yet - but his parents were rotting, and Jun didn’t even hesitate as he swung the pole like a baseball bat. The sound against the father’s head was sickening, and he had to dodge back to avoid the spray.
He heard the child’s inhuman howl as his father fell at Jun’s feet, and his mother a few paces away, body knocking against the metal rail of the train track from Ohno’s blow. The child looked back and forth between them, eyes wide and haunted. His mouth was smeared with blood, and he was still wearing his backpack. He couldn’t have been older than eight or nine.
His lips moved, trying to form the words for “Mommy,” Jun could just tell. His parents had been so much further along. What had they made this kid do? Had the child gone along with it just to have his parents around? Had he faked it all just so they wouldn’t turn their bloodlust on him?
The child screeched again, and Jun already had blood on the weapon. This was mercy, wasn’t it? The boy leapt, dodging Jun’s first swing. Nino and Ohno had been right - the disease did affect people differently. Children were already quick and full of energy. Ohno swung the paddle. Another miss.
They had to hurry, or the screeching might alert more in the neighborhood. The kid pulled off his backpack, throwing it at Jun. He batted it down, and the child was charging. Ohno swung again, and there was blood in his vision. Jun fell back on his ass. Blood, there was blood on him. There was blood…blood on him.
He turned his head. Everywhere, blood everywhere. “Jun,” Ohno was saying, reaching for him. “Jun, calm down.”
He tried to shove Ohno’s hands away. “Don’t touch me. I might be…I might…” His heart nearly stopped, and he felt the wooden railroad ties under his back. No, no, he couldn’t be.
“Jun!” His world blurred as Ohno yanked the glasses off of his face, holding them gingerly through his shirt sleeve. “It just got on here a little. Some on your face. Just make sure it didn’t get in your mouth.”
The sky was full of cheerful white clouds, for all that he could see them clearly. And yet there was a dead father, a dead mother and a dead child on the ground near him. He stayed on his back, trying desperately to calm down as Ohno cleaned the frames with a bottle of water that was supposed to get them through the night. He wasn’t infected. He was safe. He’d overreacted. Again. “I’m sorry.”
Ohno was quiet for a while, focused on scrubbing the glasses clean. “Don’t be. You’re not half as difficult as Kazunari.”
“Hmm?” he asked.
Satoshi gave his glasses back and helped him to his feet. They kept their march eastward, and several minutes passed before he got an answer.
“It was when we were trying to get out of the mall. We found each other on the fifth day. He’d left his store, found mine. He just had that game controller, wanted something to attach to it. But he found me.” They continued walking, and from his slumped shoulders, Jun could tell that Ohno missed Nino terribly.
“The mall had gotten bad. It got bad fast. There were people in the vents. Not that many in my store, but in his, it was apparently awful. He hadn’t slept in days, probably thought he was in a video game. He actually tried to kill me in my sleep the first night.” Ohno sighed. “Don’t tell him I told you. He felt really bad about it.”
The guy had tried to kill him, and yet Ohno still adored him? At least he and Sho had never…
Thinking about Sho wasn’t going to get him anywhere.
“But you,” Jun said slowly. “You and he are…”
Ohno shrugged. “I said he felt really bad about it.”
“Do you love him?”
He regretted it as soon as he blurted it out, but Ohno considered the question. “I’ve only known him for a month.”
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have…”
“He’s all I have now.” Satoshi tapped the paddle against the rail as they walked. “I’m going to see him again. If you believe that, you’ll see Sho again too.”
Jun stopped, watching Ohno continue walking with that same steady pace he had every day since they’d met. He was more observant than Jun had thought.
But Aiba had believed he’d see his family again, he thought bitterly. He jogged, hurrying to keep up as they continued on their lonely path.
Kujukuri Town was quiet when they reached the far end of it.
The only way Jun knew day from night was the sun anymore- they didn't have a watch between the two of them, so the orb overhead was their indicator of how much time they had left in a day. It had taken three to get to the outskirts of town, and it felt like infinitely more. Jun was more tired than he'd ever been in his life. Marching on blistered feet without much food or rest was taxing, and not just physically; he could no longer turn his thoughts off. They screamed through his head like rabid dogs waiting to attack, and he couldn't push them aside.
Ohno's feet stopped when he hit the curb of the first road that intercepted the rail line they'd been following so diligently. "Think this is it."
"What was the address?" Jun asked.
"23-something Beach Line," Ohno said, with a frown. They hadn't thought that they would need to remember it, not with Nino writing it down. Just another thing they had overlooked while falling into the lull of false security- they could never get so lax again. Jun's back was in knots and he wasn't sure they would ever fully disappear.
"Beach Line," Jun mused. He scanned the horizon with one hand over his eyes- the sun was on its way down again, already turning orange. "So near the coast. Probably all the way through town from here."
Ohno nodded, tapping the toe of his shoes against his paddle. "It's our best bet."
They started moving again. As the sun fell further, they got closer to the ocean, and Jun could smell the salty spray. It was comforting in a weird way- the ocean was a constant. Japan and its people might have fallen apart, but the waves would always be there, just as they always had been, crashing up against the side of the rocks. It was one thing they could count on in a sea of everything they couldn't, and Jun was glad for it.
It wasn't until the sky had considerably darkened that he saw the sign for the Beach Line, and he pointed at it, gesturing to get Ohno's attention. "Look."
"So 23-something," Ohno said.
"Wait," Jun stopped him, as Ohno was about to start walking again. "It's almost nighttime, and we heard the location over a radio transmission. It could be a trap."
It was the same thing Nino had said, and Jun wondered if the echo was in Ohno's ears, too.
Ohno considered this, and there was silence between them to where Jun could hear the familiar rhythm of the waves against the shore. It sounded like the thumping of his own heart. They could be walking into God knows what- a booby trap, an ambush, a pile of rotting bodies used to draw them near, anything. He swallowed down his fear; they had to at least try.
They had nothing else left to lose.
"Let's just check it out," Ohno suggested. "We don't have to go in- just see what it is."
It was reasonable. "Okay."
They started forward again, slower. Subdued. There was a heavy tension in the air all around him and Jun didn't know what it was from. Was this the end of the line? What if the location was a fake- and what if it was real? Where could they go in a boat that would be safe, safe from the infection that had ravaged absolutely everything?
He wanted to both drag his feet and break into a sprint.
Jun didn't know what they were looking for- most of the buildings didn't have numbers on the sides. When they reached the middle of the road they lost count completely of what building was next to them. Without knowing it, they could have passed the meet-up location completely. Ohno gestured in towards a small bakery, perched on the corner of two streets. "Let's check inside, see what the address is."
It was very dark inside, and when Jun flipped the light switch, only half of a bulb sputtered on- the glass had been broken in the lamps. It made it difficult to see anything, especially with night rapidly approaching outside. Ohno began checking through drawers and papers, trying to find something with an address on it.
Jun didn't even hear the footsteps until there were hands and the outline of a screaming mouth pressed against the window to his right. He jumped so much he dropped his pole, and the weapon fell to the ground with a clatter. He spun, but there was another in the doorway, with only half a head of hair and skin sliding down its scalp. It lunged, and Jun ducked, narrowly missing the rake of the fingernails poised to pierce skin.
Ohno was behind the counter, and his paddle was still between two shelves. He didn't have enough time to grab it- he fell when the Infected at the window crashed through the pane completely, and Jun could hear his shoulder hit the bottom of the bakery case.
He needed a weapon- his pole was lying a few meters away.
The Infected nearest to him screeched, and her tongue was gone; just gone, completely gone, and there was only blackness inside her cracked, blood-covered lips. Jun tried to roll and reach the pole, but it was just beyond his fingertips, and the Infected stomped down hard on his arm.
He choked out an exclamation of pain, clutching his wrist- the sting of pain was already up his arm, throbbing, and then the Infected was lunging for him again. He kicked upwards. His aim was terrible, but his shoe made contact anyway, and he heard the crunch of ribs cracking as the creature stumbled backwards with a gurgle of pain.
Ohno was still trapped behind the case without anything to fight with. And there were more outside the door, moving forward with stilted leaps.
"Ohno!" Jun cried, and it was nearly lost amidst the screaming of the Infected. They were surrounding them, barreling in, and they were trapped in a stupid, shack of a building- had that been the plan? Had the half-dead been lying in wait for someone to enter one of the easily ambushed areas?
Had it all been one big trap they'd willingly walked into?
Jun's pole was too far away, and there was a figure lurching at him. He squeezed his eyes shut out of instinct- maybe they'd go for his jugular, and let him bleed out quickly. He didn't want to be alive when they started tearing at his flesh. His heart caught in his throat and he stopped breathing, and he could only think that he wasn't at all ready to die.
There was an angry yell from the doorway, and the skid of shoes against pavement. Jun only opened his eyes because it sounded distinctly un-hoarse- not like the Infected. He cracked his lids open to see bodies flying to either side as something thin and silver swooped through the air with a hiss.
A golf club- Aiba and his 5 wood.
It gave Jun enough time to scramble back to his feet, breath coming in shallow wheezes, and he dove for his pole. He got a good smack against the back of an Infected still on its feet, and he could feel the vibrations through through the metal when the skull burst like a watermelon. It sent shivers down his spine that he tried desperately to ignore.
There was more movement from the door in the form of a baseball bat swinging, and the cracking noise it made when it collided with the last remaining Infected still on its feet resounded through the small building. Then there was a very long, collective silence, and Jun struggled to right his world again.
Sho took one step forward from the doorway, and Nino threw up a hand in front of him. "No!"
Jun had never seen the shorter man look so unnerved, hair in every direction, eyes wide and fingers trembling. His other hand was firmly around his controller-whip as he stared past Jun's shoulder at Ohno, rising to his feet behind the counter.
"What was the first thing I said to you?" Nino demanded, sounding strangled. It took Jun a long second to figure out what he was doing- testing them. He was testing their memory; if they couldn't answer the questions, it meant they were infected, didn't it? If they couldn't recall the memories-
"Are you dead?" Ohno replied dutifully.
Nino's arm lowered a fraction of an inch- barely noticeable. "How many nights did we spend in the bank before they found us?"
"Two," Ohno said, and his voice was softer.
Jun could see Nino's throat bob when the other man swallowed. "What- what did you promise me you would do when we got out of Japan alive?"
Ohno's response was so quiet that Jun nearly missed it. "Paint you."
Everything on Nino's face changed, broke- the mask fell apart as all the adrenaline seemed to leave his body at once. "Satoshi," he gasped, stumbling forward over bodies without any regard to round the counter and throw his arms around Ohno. And then there was a bundle of shaking limbs that wrapped itself around Jun completely.
"We thought you were dead!" Aiba cried into his shoulder, hands clutching the back of Jun's shirt like a lifeline. "We thought they got you, we thought you were dead-"
Jun hugged him back, inhaling the scent of someone still living, still breathing. "Not dead."
He could see Sho over Aiba's trembling shoulder, but couldn't read the expression on his face.
"We found the address," Nino said, upon detangling himself from Ohno- he still sounded shaky, but far more in control again. "It's a 7-11 down the street. There's an apartment just across from it where we can watch to see if any of them go inside. I say we watch it for a night, and make sure it's clean."
The 7-11 was a little shady looking, but there weren't any bodies that Jun could see around it- he wasn't sure if it was a good sign or not. The apartment Nino had talked about was high, and lacked fire escapes, which Jun was glad for. They shoved several bookcases in front of the windows anyway, just in case, and all settled down in the living room in a circle. No one wanted to sleep anywhere else- there was safety in numbers.
He stared up at the ceiling for a long time, listening to the heavy, rhythmic breathing around him, until there was a tap on his shoulder, and Sho hovering above him with a finger in front of his lips for quiet.
Jun followed him out into the hall, down the corridor and into another apartment near the corner. His nerves were shot, and his head was throbbing, and he hadn't really even shared a glance with Sho since meeting back up again- there hadn't been time. Hadn't been time or the right moment, and he wasn't entirely prepared to deal with the fallout from the panicked state he'd been in.
But as soon as the portal closed behind him, Sho's mouth was on his, hot and demanding. Jun's back hit the door and Sho's hands were in his hair, at his sides, up and under the fabric of his shirt. They commanded more- they commanded everything.
"I thought I lost you," Sho whispered, against Jun's neck, nipping and biting and fingers slipping down to trail past the waistband of his pants. "I thought I lost you and I'm not waiting anymore."
"Senpai," Jun gasped, and bucked into Sho's palm. It had been forever since he'd felt those fingers curling around his cock. Jun let his hands grab at Sho's shirt, pulling at it and pushing the other man backwards so that his back was no longer against the door. He kissed Sho hard, and groaned against his lips. "Sho-"
There wasn't time to explore and memorize. Time wasn't something they could count on anymore, no longer something they could set their actions by; time was the enemy, barreling down like the infection raging outside. They might not make it- they didn't have time. It was fast and frenzied and a whirlpool of emotion that welled up in Jun's chest like he was drowning and sucking in nothing but lungfuls of water.
It was all hot hands and seeking fingers and Sho turned him around so he was leaning over the kitchen counter of whoever had previously lived in the studio apartment. He grasped the edge of the marble so hard his knuckles turned white.
"Jun," Sho was moaning, grinding his hips against Jun's thighs- it made Jun's vision go slightly white at the edges, all white-hot fire in his blood. The buckle on his pants came undone with deftness, and the denim pooled around his ankles.
A finger slicked with the cold shock of petroleum jelly that Sho had pulled from his pocket. "Oh, please," Jun whispered, and it took a moment to realize the pleas were falling from his own lips. His muscles were shaking from arousal and exertion, elbows locked to keep himself upright. "Oh, please."
Sho's free hand was on his arm, almost like a gentle reassurance despite the tightness of his grasp. There wasn't time to second-guess, there wasn't time to make it romantic; though it was anyway, in a way, or at least Jun thought wildly that it was when Sho finally slid inside him completely, wrenching a hitching moan from his throat.
"Oh-" was all Jun could get out for a long while, and Sho had the presence to still a bit. There was a moment in which Jun thought he'd demand Sho stop immediately, and then Sho shifted with a gasp and hit something that sent a jolt all the way down to Jun's toes pressed up against the edge of the counter. Jun very nearly almost whimpered. "Oh move, oh please move."
It was so fast. Jun wasn't sure if he was sweating from nerves, or tension, or friction- or all three rolled together. When Sho sped up he moved his hips back into each thrust without thinking about it, body screaming on overdrive. The pings of pleasure were so fast in coming that they were multiplying over on themselves, and he had to bite down hard on his bottom lip to keep from crying out. He just bucked into the rhythm and saw the posters from his dorm room, the Infected outside, the spray of blood, Sho's hands, Sho's mouth-
Sho was either groaning or gasping, and maybe it was both. Most of it was a garbled version of Jun's name between hissing intakes of oxygen. "Shit, ah, shit-"
His hands had swept around Jun's hips to pump his length. It was too much, too fast; coupled with the drain from the day and the fear that was always lingering in the back of his mind, Jun couldn't hold on any longer. He came in Sho's palm and almost couldn't keep his balance when the orgasm rippled through him.
It took a few seconds to regain control of his breathing, and even then, with Sho's hips smacking into his ass still, it was difficult. Sho's fingers around his arm tightened suddenly, and the other man choked out something that sounded like fuck, fuck, I'm going to come and then Jun could feel Sho's body tense and twitch.
The shock of loss was keen when Sho slid out a minute later, and Jun slumped forward a bit over the counter. Every nerve in his body was screaming for rest- the lack of sleep for days was catching up too quickly.
Sho wrapped his arms around Jun's shoulders and kissed his neck. "Did I hurt you?"
"No," Jun laughed. They stayed like that for a long while before Jun spoke again. "Don't do that again. Falling behind, I mean. I was scared."
"I know," Sho whispered. "We just lost you in the rain, and they were everywhere. Nino- he said you'd go towards the radio source."
Jun leaned his head back to let his temple rest against Sho's. "Ohno said the same thing."
Sho finally pulled away, and Jun pulled his jeans back up. His fingers were still shaking. He finally understood Nino and Ohno now, and the desperation that sometimes tinged the undertones of their words. There was something about clinging to another person in the darkness of the situation.
They crept quietly back to the apartment the others were in and retook their positions on the living room floor. Sho's hand found Jun's in the darkness, squeezing once.
And for the first time in days, Jun actually slept.
--
He was the first one awake. Somehow during the night, Sho had rolled over and nearly wrapped himself completely around him. Not that Jun minded.
Ohno, Nino and Aiba were all lumped together, limbs tangled. He brushed his fingers across Sho’s forehead. He hadn’t disappeared or run off. Sho groaned a bit, cracking an eye open. “Hi,” Jun whispered.
“Hi.” Sho pulled back a bit, stretching. They stared at each other, the memory of last night leaving the them numb. He licked his lips, remembering what had happened in the other apartment. It would be difficult to stay apart. Sho finally broke the silence. “What time is it?”
“Morning,” was all Jun could really tell him. He sat up, limbs cracking. He got to his feet, holding his hand out for Sho. They tiptoed around the others’ sleeping forms, making their way to the window. They looked out through the blinds.
The streets were deserted. It had rained during the night, and the sky was finally clearing. But the 7-11’s door was open. He put a hand on Sho’s arm. “Do you think...?”
“What’s going on?” Nino was behind them, and Jun snatched his hand back, but the shorter man was already rolling his eyes.
“Someone might be in the 7-11,” Sho mumbled. Nino elbowed his way between them, and Jun sighed. He pulled up the blinds noisily, and all three of them stared out across the damp parking lot. There were posters in the store windows, limiting their view of the inside.
“We should go check it out,” Jun said. “Maybe it’s the guy from the radio.”
“And maybe,” Nino interrupted, “it’s a bunch of freaking zombies or people raiding the store. We wait.”
“Wait? For how long?” Sho grumbled.
Not very long - the three of them froze as they spotted movement around the side of the building. He felt Sho clutch at his side, fumbling for his hand. Jun took it, squeezing hard as they saw two men about their age creep around the building. They made their way to the front of the store, their footsteps quick and determined. One’s arm was nearly black from the infection, and the other was missing...
“His face,” Nino muttered. “Jesus.”
“Close the blinds,” Sho said. “What if they look up...”
The three of them nearly jumped out of their skin at the sound of the gunshots. The first sent the one with the rotted face flying into the parking lot, blood splattering on the pavement. The next two shots got the other one, sending him through the glass of the convenience store window, splitting his head on the curb.
He thought he was going to break Sho’s hand he was holding it so tightly. But the infected ones were gone. Decisively gone. A young man emerged from the store, no older than them with wide eyes, hands tight around a hunting rifle.
“Where the hell did this guy get a gun?” Jun asked. The man checked the corpses, poking them with the barrel of the rifle. Jun felt movement behind him - the gun blasts had woken Aiba and Ohno.
“What’s going on?” Aiba asked nervously. “Who’s shooting at us?”
“Not at us,” Nino informed them. “I think we found our saviors.”
--
The five of them packed up quickly, making sure they had their weapons. There was no easy way to approach a guy with a hunting rifle. “Should we announce ourselves?” Sho asked, hands tight around his bat.
“Well I don’t feel like getting shot in the face today,” Nino replied, walking behind Ohno.
They emerged from the apartment building and waited at the edge of the parking lot. Jun looked from person to person, seeing four nervous faces. “So how do we...?”
“Hey! Rifle guy!” Aiba shouted, stepping forward. “Hey! We heard you on the radio!”
“Masaki!” Sho hissed.
“Hey! We’re not infected!” Aiba continued. Jun’s stomach twisted. He was going to get them all shot.
Another panel of the 7-11’s glass shattered, the gunshot echoing out across the parking lot as the five of them hit the ground. “Shit!” Nino shouted, covering his head.
The guy with the rifle stepped over the glass, hovering in the convenience store entryway. He had light hair and a dark green military-looking jacket. He aimed across at them. “You honestly think I believe you?”
Aiba got to his feet first. “We can prove it! We’re not rotting. We still have all our memories!”
“Think I never heard that before?”
A woman came up behind him, squeezing the gunman’s shoulder. Her clothes were dirty, and she looked exhausted. But as soon as she made her presence known, the man lowered the weapon. The rest of them slowly got to their feet.
“Put your weapons down,” the woman ordered but not unkindly. “Please.”
“Ai...”
“It’s okay,” she told the man, her boyfriend Jun guessed from the intimate way they stood together. She took a step forward. “You heard the radio broadcast?”
Ohno nodded, setting his paddle down. He held his hands out and stepped forward to stand at Aiba’s side. “We did. We were in Chiba City. The night of the 14th. You said come to Kujukuri Town. Something about boats. We didn’t catch all of it.”
The woman smiled. “That was us.” She walked toward them as they all set their weapons down and held their hands up. “We didn’t think anyone would come. We’ve been down the road, watching from that apartment building down that street.”
The man looked furious. “Don’t tell them that!”
But the woman kept walking until she was standing in front of Aiba. They had no time to think as she pulled a handgun from the back of her filthy jeans and pointed it right in Aiba’s face. “I’m sorry, but we can’t trust you.”
Aiba was shaking. “Yeah, trust the woman. Great plan,” Jun heard Nino muttering behind him.
She shook her head. “We want to believe you. But there’s five of you, and just Toma and me. Please, don’t panic.”
“You’re pointing a gun in his face,” Sho pointed out.
“Some of them are clever,” she said. “If you’ve been out here as long as we have, then you know that too. You’ll come into the store. We’ll check to see if you’re infected.”
“Check how?” Jun asked.
“We’re going to check your skin.” The four of them exchanged nervous glances, save Aiba who was stock still. She waved the gun a bit. “We’ve got a boat. If you’d like to be on it, then you’ll come into the store.”
“On one condition,” Aiba said quietly.
“Name it.”
“We check you too,” he answered.
The woman raised an eyebrow. “Toma?” she called loudly, not taking her focus away from Aiba.
“I have to take my clothes off in front of these guys?”
She sighed. “We’re asking the same of them!” The guy, Toma, looked annoyed but turned around and headed into the store. The woman cleared her throat. “You have a deal. Into the store please. Leave the weapons here.”
Sho stuck close to him as they followed the woman into the store. “Didn’t think I’d be getting naked in front of strangers this morning,” he muttered.
“No shit,” Jun answered. This would be interesting.