KAT-TUN - D-Motion
Title: Rock the D-Motion
Pairing: KAT-TUN, Kamenashi Kazuya/Akanishi Jin, Taguchi
Junnosuke/Tanaka Koki, Nakamaru Yuichi/Ueda Tatsuya
Rating: R for violence
Summary: Post-Apocalyptic AU. KAT-TUN finally got to live on the edge.
Warning: zombies, deaths, established relationships, questionable gun
usage, and nonlinear timeline.
Note: A big thanks to my beta, any other mistakes are solely mine.
KAT-TUN's
D-Motion
Everything that's real dies someday or another.
Then again, who wants to live forever?
***
Ueda panted as he stumbled into the club, gun out it's holster and
up at the ready. The two shots he fired before, while a foolish move
was a necessary one. It took one down and nicked another just enough
for him to make it back to base.
Kame grunted as he tossed a half empty bottle of water to Ueda while
Koki prodded his body, checking for any stray scratches or bites that
he might have got.
Ueda could feel his eyebrows twitching as he tried to tune out
Koki's muttering about how Ueda's action had jeopadised them
all and that they could already be on their doorsteps thanks to Ueda
and his stupid gun.
"Next time, why not you guys go and get that flu vaccine
instead." Ueda said in between gritted teeth which succeeded in
getting Koki to shut his mouth and mutter a soft apology before
continuing with his incessant prods and pokes.
Agitated. They all understood how Ueda felt. Have they ever felt
anything else for the past few months? Life after the outbreak could
be aptly called a waking struggle everyday, what with being
preoccupied with avoiding the Infecteds and just staying alive.
Plus their clothes all have holes that were beyond even Kame's
repair and they smelled like they badly needed a bath.
When he was certain that Ueda was scratch free, Koki snatched the
bottle back from Ueda's hands and took a long gulp, ignoring
Ueda's indignant shouts for him to fuck off and get his own.
Taking the flu vaccine from Ueda's hands, Maru offered a smile
that seemed to say Good job and Ueda understood it all the same, words
were rarely needed between them.
Whilst not majoring in medicine, Maru had taken it upon himself to
study them after the outbreak. Poring himself into every medical book
they could get their hands on and memorizing the crucial steps in
first aid should any of it be needed someday.
Though Maru never said it outright, the others could tell he was also
trying to find a cure to the epidemic, he never really forgave himself
for not managing to save Jin.
Junno, silent the whole time, stood by the exit with his rifle in
hand. Ready to shoot down any Infected that followed the sound of
Ueda's gun shot. It was why they chose this club as their home
base anyway, the plain openness from all the furniture being burned
away save for the dance floor, making it easier for them to scope the
room with just one glance.
It was safer than having to constantly watch their back for an
Infected jumping out from an abandoned alley or a delipidated
building.
---
Nobody had a real clue as to how the virus came about but one thing
the UN quickly found out was that the virus was highly contagious as
they tried to quarantine the victims.
Some scientist claimed that the strain of the virus originally came
from animals, others claim that it was man-made, all part of a
biological warfare that never happened.
What made the virus so hard to identify was the many symptoms it had,
first a high fever, then severe coughing before the person would come
down with anemia, this usually takes place during a one to two week
incubation period depending on the individuals immune system. It
during this stage that their body would slowly shut down and death
became imminent.
Though it was not the deaths that scared people, it was what happened
after - to those who died and bodies were not disposed off quickly
enough.
Many initially joked about how it resembled a B-grade zombie movie, at
least before they died themselves. Blood thirsty zombies in all
it's literal sense, once awoken they were constantly on the search
for more blood to keep them up and running. They were like vampires
and zombies rolled into one.
There was initially a vaccine against the virus but it had mutated at
such a speed that took everyone by surprise and it was only a few
years before civilization as everyone knew it was annihilated. Rumors
of a new cure, a vaccine to make one immune to the virus, surfaced not
long after and it was a scramble to the finish line to see which
survivor gets it first.
There were survivors of course, the lucky few who had avoided catching
the virus. Though, after months of living through the outbreak, they
were not really sure if they were lucky after all.
---
Jin had showed up at Kame's doorstep not long after the first case
of an infected in Tokyo was confirmed. He showed up, hair mused as if
he had not combed it in days and a hint of stubble showing on his
chin.
"You're safe." It was more of a statement than a
question and Jin was staring at Kame as if he could not really believe
his eyes.
"I could say the same for you. Aren't you supposed to be in
America?" Kame asked and got a shrug from Jin in reply.
Motioning for Jin to enter, Kame prepared two cups of tea and they
both sat down on his sofa. He did not have any schedule that day,
every thing got cancelled once the broadcast was made and he was told
to go home with strict instructions to stay safe.
They sat in tense silence for the next few minutes, neither knowing
what to say after the years since Jin left KAT-TUN. Kame tried hard to
think of something to say before he heard Jin mutter a soft "Fuck
it." before soft lips were on his and his mind went blissfully
blank. He could feel Jin's tongue on his lips and opened his
mouth, moaning a little. It was only after a while that they drew back
a little awkwardly and smiled to each other.
"I missed you." Jin said and leaned in once again.
"I missed you too." Kame smiled as he felt Jin lifting him
up and carrying him to his room.
Placing Kame on his bed, Jin stood up and rubbed his back.
"You've grown heavier." he whined.
Kame lightly smacked him on the arm.
"Shut up and kiss me again." Kame said and Jin complied.
Kame decided that they could always talk tomorrow, and maybe the day after.
---
Kame groaned as he slumped onto the recliner in the VIP room KAT-TUN
had taken up, it reeked and fluff was coming out at corners but it was
the only one they got. He stared at the hands of the clock and
silently counted the seconds that passed.
Ueda and Koki had been gone for almost 3 hours now.
Ueda was usually the one they sent to collect important neccessities,
it only stood to reason that he should be the one as he was, after
all, faster and stronger than all of them. Koki just wanted to tag
along, muttering something about how if undead vampire zombies can get
him, he really deserved to die and Ueda did not really trust anyone
else to tag along with him.
The last time they had sent Maru off he was nearly mauled by a stray
Infected. If it wasn't for Koki's shotgun, Maru would probably
have never made it back and they were never toying with that
possiblity again.
Junno was their main lookout and sniper because he had the most
accurate shot out of the five of them, the many hours he spent on his
DS finally paying off. Kame had volunteered to be sent on missions but
was often ignored which frustrated him to no end. 'Too young.'
was the usual reason Koki gave which was funny seeing as Koki was only
a year older than him. Ueda on the other hand had allowed Kame to go
out only when Ueda was too tired to be bothered to collect stuff like
water or canned beans which was not very often.
Feeling more than a little restless, Kame got up and crouched by the
window, peeping through the tiny slits between planks of wood they had
used to cover the windows.
Maybe they were already on their way back, he had never known them to
take this long just to collect enough food to last them for the next
few days and Kame was getting worried. He jumped when he heard Maru
closing his book with a little more strength than was nessecary, he
could also hear Junno's finger toying with the safety on the rifle
behind him and corrected himself, they were all worried.
Just then the door of the club swung open and in limped Ueda and Koki
bruised. Kame could feel cold hands slide themselve into his stomach,
constricting him.
No, not them too.
"Survivors," Ueda gasped as he tried to catch his breath as
Maru helped him out of his clothes for the mandatory full body check
everytime they came back. "We saw other survivors." and that
made Kame pause.
There were of course other survivors besides the five of them but they
could never be sure of how to act around them. The end of civilization
had meant the lack of law and order as well. Riots and violence the
reason why so many building had been burned down. Some survivors were
okay, simply wanting help and some company, others were not so
friendly, proceding to loot and steal whatever they could get their
hands on.
Koki said nothing when Maru quietly helped him out of his clothes too and then,
"They took our stash and ran for it. Fought hard when we tried to
get it back those bastards." he spat. "Now we have to go out
all over again."
"But those survivors could be out there again, waiting to steal it."
"How about I go next time?" All heads turned to Junno, who
had finally spoken up since Ueda and Koki returned. "It's
kind of boring just sitting here all day you know. If I see those
survivors again, I'll just turn my rifle on them."
Kame does not know if the others realized it yet but Junno's smile
has been rather dim as of late. Like a star finally burning out. No
longer blinding them and irritating Koki who used to hit him on the
head for turning that smile on him. He wonders why.
***
Junno groaned as he shifted in his mattress, trying to outrun those
Infecteds even in his sleep. He just kept running but they seemed to
be catching up; spindly, atrophied hands reaching out to him. It was
just as one was just about to grab him that he was rudely shaken
awake.
"Hey, you okay?" Junno squinted his eyes as he tried to
discern who was the one that woke him up, Koki. He looked pretty
worried and Junno reached up a hand to rub Koki's shoulder,
silently telling him with each rub that he was okay, even if he
wasn't really feeling that way inside.
"Yeah I'm just dead tired." Junno replied which earned
him a light smack on the head "Go back to sleep."
Koki sighed and lied back down, beside Junno this time and Junno had
no complains there. He said nothing when Koki draped his arm over his
waist and even when Koki leaned into his chest and whispered a
muffled, "Goodnight."
Maybe those nightmares would finally go away.
***
The clock above their heads ticked softly as Koki paced around the
dance floor. He should have asked to go with Junno, not let that idiot
go on his own. It had taken both Ueda and Koki to fight off those
survivors, two guys and a girl. All had looked younger than Koki but
then again Koki thought of Maru and figured, one cannot really tell.
It would be next to impossible for Junno to fight the three of them
off, even with his rifle. There was safety in numbers, haven't
they all learned that already?
Behind him on the couch, he could hear Kame huffing about how they
should have sent him along too and pouted when they all ignored him,
again. They were never under any circumstances sending the youngest
amongst them out to die, they owed at least this much to Jin.
It felt like hours, but probably only half an hour, before Junno burst
into the room with two small boxes in hand and Koki released the
breath he had been holding for the past few minutes. Kame immediately
ran up to help Junno with his load, not wanting to seem useless.
"I ran into them too, pesky fellows." Koki scowled, then
walked up to Junno for the routine check and was slightly surprised
when Junno flinched as he reached for his hands but said nothing
otherwise. Koki also could not help but notice how Junno was
shivering, even though they were all perspiring from the midday heat
and lack of a proper air conditioning.
"You okay?" Whispering so that the others would not hear,
Koki turned Junno around with a cursory glance for wounds. He did have
a number of black and blue flowers blooming down his back and was just
about to call Maru to take over when Junno shook his head and mouthed
for the toilet with an apologetic smile when Koki's frown
deepened.
***
Junno slowly opened up his fingers as he slouched over the sink. An
angry red scratch stared back at him and Junno could see his knuckles
going white as he tightened his grip on the sink to stop the trembles
in his body. Those survivors he met were all taken down by the
Infected that were attracted by the din they created. He had barely
managed to escape, holding up his right hand to shield his face when
one was just about to grab him.
In the mirror, Junno could see tears flowing down his face as he
clenched his fist tightly once again, willing the scratch to go away.
It's just a scratch. Just a scratch.
***
Two days later and Junno thinks that maybe the scratch on his right
hand was really just that, a scratch.
Five days later, the fever came. A week later and he started coughing blood.
---
The night Jin died, Kame had gone back to their base, an abandoned
warehouse in Yokohama then, and locked himself in the room he had
shared with Jin. It took two days and Maru's constant worrying on
the other side of the door for Kame to come out but even then, he
hadn't talked for another few days.
They all noticed of course but never mentioned or even alluded to it
when Kame stopped wearing the pinky ring he had bought with Jin. Too
many painful memories.
The others did not have it easy too. Dealing with a moody Kame and
having to scout for the cure as well as food and other nessecities.
There were days where one of them, normally Ueda after he had a
particularly bad disagreement with Kame, would consider leaving
KAT-TUN behind but had never really meant it.
In the very end, they were KAT-TUN -one for all and all for one- even
if they do not really agree with it on most days.
---
When he opened the door to the rooftop for a smoke, the first thing
Ueda saw after his eyes adjusted to the midday sun was Junno, followed
by the gun in his hand.
"Does Koki know?" Ueda asked. He had already known it all
along anyway and he suspected the rest knew it too. Junno nodded and
fingered the gun in his hand, playing with the safety.
"I couldn't have kept it from him forever." A wry smile,
then the sound of the safety being pulled rang through the rooftop
with a stinging finality that felt almost surreal. Ueda briefly
thought about saying goodbye but when he tried, the words just got
stuck in his throat, a jumble of mess that threatens to choke him. So
he just gave up.
They had all agreed on it the night Jin died, if any of them were to
ever be infected, a shot to the head. Simple as that.
Ueda had to turn away as Junno pulled the trigger. He hoped for both
Junno and them that the shot rang true.
It did.
***
Later that night, Ueda was not sure if what happened in the afternoon
had anything to do with it but he could still hear Koki's sobs as
he pulled Junno's body closer to him in his head. Ueda felt
himself pulling Maru in harder, almost angry even, though he felt a
stab of guilt when he saw Maru wince from feeling strands of hair
pulled from their roots. Ueda knows there must be something wrong with
him but he sort of wants it, for Maru to feel a little pain, for him
to leave marks behind so that Maru won't forget this, forget him,
should anything happen to them.
***
It was a fitful sleep for Ueda that night as he trashed around on his
bed. His dreams, unlike Junno's, were never ones of running away.
They were mostly of him fighting, for Ueda was a fighter and fighters
never run away, for both his friends and himself.
In this particular dream, Ueda was running to Kame who had fallen to
the floor and was clawing his way away from the Infected that was
after him. Looking up, Ueda could see that the Infected had Jin's
face, or maybe it really was Akanishi Jin. It was a pretty wide guess
due to the large amount of decay that was already happening but Ueda
was quite sure that this was Jin.
The Jin-zombie had his arms raised, reaching for Kame and Kame just
kept trying to crawl away, with a twisted ankle.
Ueda had ran to Kame and lifted his gun, aiming for the zombie's
head the best he could with the trembling in his hands. Ueda did not
like shooting, which was why he had left lookout duty mostly to Junno
and most shootings were done by Koki but Ueda had to protect his
friends. He had failed them once before with Jin but not again.
Cocking the gun, he pulled the trigger, the resulting recoil startled
him awake and he turned around to find Maru sleeping soundly beside
him. Heaving a sigh, he laid back down, unable to go back to sleep.
It looks like it was going to be a long, long night.
***
Kame poured bleach onto the rooftop the next morning, in an attempt to
mask the smell of blood and to prevent more Infecteds from finding
them.
Junno's body was left at the back of the club, in an abandoned
alley that was more often than not deserted, save for the one or two
Infecteds that managed to find their way there.
***
It took a week and a half for Jin to develop the fever, the outbreak
having just started and all of them were unaware of the symptoms that
were to come. Kame worked night and day sponging Jin off, patting his
head when Jin felt uncomfortable and pushing hair away from his face
but that was just about all he could do.
Maru was busy poring over his books, trying to figure out why
Jin's fever was not going away despite the medicine he was already
administering. He tried to pin it down on dengue or typhoid but none
of the symptoms, other than the persistent high fever, matched.
The night Jin started coughing blood was the night they finally caught
a glimpse of the virus upclose. They could only look on in horror as
Jin kept coughing up more and more blood to the point where anemia
sets in.
It took three weeks for KAT-TUN to run to Jin's room, startled by
Kame's shout for Jin to back off.
"That's not Jin. That's not Jin." Kame had muttered,
mostly to himself as the five of them watched, transfixed by the
figure, still wearing the dirty white shirt Jin had been wearing for
the past five months, limping towards them, brown hair tousled and
flakes of skin slowly dropping off with every step.
Raising his rifle, Junno had spared Kame a sympathetic look and
whispered a soft "Sorry" before opening fire.
The Infected, they did not even called it Jin anymore, spasmed for a
second before falling to the floor with a soft thud, his pinky ring
glinting as it caught the sunlight that fell onto the forest ground
and Ueda had to use all his strength to stop Kame from running
forward, allowing the youngest to cry into his chest, hot tears
quickly soaking his ratty t-shirt.
---
Maru's nightmare that night were like every other of his
nightmares. He likes to think that there's a sense of familiarity
from always having the same horrors replay in his head, at least he
knows when he's going to be fucked up and when he should wake up.
Maru stood by the side as he watched his teammates being attacked by
the Infected, he tried to help but his legs were rooted to the gravel
below and his screams for the Infected to leave them alone were
usually ignored.
On most nights, amongst the Infected would be one that carried
Jin's face but tonight, one Infected that carried Junno's face
was right beside Jin's, dead eyes glinting as he pulled Koki into
some sort of a macabre embrace and lowered his head onto Koki's
neck, the latter's scream slowly disappearing.
It was only after the Infecteds were done with his teammates would
they finally turn to him as one. It was his own screams that he heard
as they lunged for him that woke him up everynight, like a clockwork.
***
A few more days of scouting and they concluded that the cure for the
virus was probably not here.
"What should we do now?" Koki asked, sitting on the bar
counter that was probably once filled with cups and bottles of
alcohol. They all turned to look at Kame who in turn shrugged.
"We move on I guess. Osaka maybe?"
"Maybe we'll get to meet Kanjani there." If they're
still alive. The second part was understood, even if nobody said it.
"So it's decided then?" Maru looked around and took the
silence he received to mean consent.
Koki sprang down from the counter and looped an arm around Kame,
"I'll help you pack." and received a smile in return.
Maru could only stare as he watched the both of them enter Kame's
room and locked the door behind them. A heavy hand on his shoulder
jolted him out of his reverie, Maru turned around and saw Ueda staring
at the door in front of them too,
"Leave them be, they need this."
He nodded in agreement and turned to his room to begin his own
packing- it would not take long seeing as they did not have much to
begin with. He mentally gave Koki and Kame a few hours till they were
due out though.
In the end, it did not really matter if they did not find a cure in
Osaka. There would still be hope as long as KAT-TUN stuck
together.
Pairing: KAT-TUN, Kamenashi Kazuya/Akanishi Jin, Taguchi
Junnosuke/Tanaka Koki, Nakamaru Yuichi/Ueda Tatsuya
Rating: R for violence
Summary: Post-Apocalyptic AU. KAT-TUN finally got to live on the edge.
Warning: zombies, deaths, established relationships, questionable gun
usage, and nonlinear timeline.
Note: A big thanks to my beta, any other mistakes are solely mine.
KAT-TUN's
D-Motion
Everything that's real dies someday or another.
Then again, who wants to live forever?
***
Ueda panted as he stumbled into the club, gun out it's holster and
up at the ready. The two shots he fired before, while a foolish move
was a necessary one. It took one down and nicked another just enough
for him to make it back to base.
Kame grunted as he tossed a half empty bottle of water to Ueda while
Koki prodded his body, checking for any stray scratches or bites that
he might have got.
Ueda could feel his eyebrows twitching as he tried to tune out
Koki's muttering about how Ueda's action had jeopadised them
all and that they could already be on their doorsteps thanks to Ueda
and his stupid gun.
"Next time, why not you guys go and get that flu vaccine
instead." Ueda said in between gritted teeth which succeeded in
getting Koki to shut his mouth and mutter a soft apology before
continuing with his incessant prods and pokes.
Agitated. They all understood how Ueda felt. Have they ever felt
anything else for the past few months? Life after the outbreak could
be aptly called a waking struggle everyday, what with being
preoccupied with avoiding the Infecteds and just staying alive.
Plus their clothes all have holes that were beyond even Kame's
repair and they smelled like they badly needed a bath.
When he was certain that Ueda was scratch free, Koki snatched the
bottle back from Ueda's hands and took a long gulp, ignoring
Ueda's indignant shouts for him to fuck off and get his own.
Taking the flu vaccine from Ueda's hands, Maru offered a smile
that seemed to say Good job and Ueda understood it all the same, words
were rarely needed between them.
Whilst not majoring in medicine, Maru had taken it upon himself to
study them after the outbreak. Poring himself into every medical book
they could get their hands on and memorizing the crucial steps in
first aid should any of it be needed someday.
Though Maru never said it outright, the others could tell he was also
trying to find a cure to the epidemic, he never really forgave himself
for not managing to save Jin.
Junno, silent the whole time, stood by the exit with his rifle in
hand. Ready to shoot down any Infected that followed the sound of
Ueda's gun shot. It was why they chose this club as their home
base anyway, the plain openness from all the furniture being burned
away save for the dance floor, making it easier for them to scope the
room with just one glance.
It was safer than having to constantly watch their back for an
Infected jumping out from an abandoned alley or a delipidated
building.
---
Nobody had a real clue as to how the virus came about but one thing
the UN quickly found out was that the virus was highly contagious as
they tried to quarantine the victims.
Some scientist claimed that the strain of the virus originally came
from animals, others claim that it was man-made, all part of a
biological warfare that never happened.
What made the virus so hard to identify was the many symptoms it had,
first a high fever, then severe coughing before the person would come
down with anemia, this usually takes place during a one to two week
incubation period depending on the individuals immune system. It
during this stage that their body would slowly shut down and death
became imminent.
Though it was not the deaths that scared people, it was what happened
after - to those who died and bodies were not disposed off quickly
enough.
Many initially joked about how it resembled a B-grade zombie movie, at
least before they died themselves. Blood thirsty zombies in all
it's literal sense, once awoken they were constantly on the search
for more blood to keep them up and running. They were like vampires
and zombies rolled into one.
There was initially a vaccine against the virus but it had mutated at
such a speed that took everyone by surprise and it was only a few
years before civilization as everyone knew it was annihilated. Rumors
of a new cure, a vaccine to make one immune to the virus, surfaced not
long after and it was a scramble to the finish line to see which
survivor gets it first.
There were survivors of course, the lucky few who had avoided catching
the virus. Though, after months of living through the outbreak, they
were not really sure if they were lucky after all.
---
Jin had showed up at Kame's doorstep not long after the first case
of an infected in Tokyo was confirmed. He showed up, hair mused as if
he had not combed it in days and a hint of stubble showing on his
chin.
"You're safe." It was more of a statement than a
question and Jin was staring at Kame as if he could not really believe
his eyes.
"I could say the same for you. Aren't you supposed to be in
America?" Kame asked and got a shrug from Jin in reply.
Motioning for Jin to enter, Kame prepared two cups of tea and they
both sat down on his sofa. He did not have any schedule that day,
every thing got cancelled once the broadcast was made and he was told
to go home with strict instructions to stay safe.
They sat in tense silence for the next few minutes, neither knowing
what to say after the years since Jin left KAT-TUN. Kame tried hard to
think of something to say before he heard Jin mutter a soft "Fuck
it." before soft lips were on his and his mind went blissfully
blank. He could feel Jin's tongue on his lips and opened his
mouth, moaning a little. It was only after a while that they drew back
a little awkwardly and smiled to each other.
"I missed you." Jin said and leaned in once again.
"I missed you too." Kame smiled as he felt Jin lifting him
up and carrying him to his room.
Placing Kame on his bed, Jin stood up and rubbed his back.
"You've grown heavier." he whined.
Kame lightly smacked him on the arm.
"Shut up and kiss me again." Kame said and Jin complied.
Kame decided that they could always talk tomorrow, and maybe the day after.
---
Kame groaned as he slumped onto the recliner in the VIP room KAT-TUN
had taken up, it reeked and fluff was coming out at corners but it was
the only one they got. He stared at the hands of the clock and
silently counted the seconds that passed.
Ueda and Koki had been gone for almost 3 hours now.
Ueda was usually the one they sent to collect important neccessities,
it only stood to reason that he should be the one as he was, after
all, faster and stronger than all of them. Koki just wanted to tag
along, muttering something about how if undead vampire zombies can get
him, he really deserved to die and Ueda did not really trust anyone
else to tag along with him.
The last time they had sent Maru off he was nearly mauled by a stray
Infected. If it wasn't for Koki's shotgun, Maru would probably
have never made it back and they were never toying with that
possiblity again.
Junno was their main lookout and sniper because he had the most
accurate shot out of the five of them, the many hours he spent on his
DS finally paying off. Kame had volunteered to be sent on missions but
was often ignored which frustrated him to no end. 'Too young.'
was the usual reason Koki gave which was funny seeing as Koki was only
a year older than him. Ueda on the other hand had allowed Kame to go
out only when Ueda was too tired to be bothered to collect stuff like
water or canned beans which was not very often.
Feeling more than a little restless, Kame got up and crouched by the
window, peeping through the tiny slits between planks of wood they had
used to cover the windows.
Maybe they were already on their way back, he had never known them to
take this long just to collect enough food to last them for the next
few days and Kame was getting worried. He jumped when he heard Maru
closing his book with a little more strength than was nessecary, he
could also hear Junno's finger toying with the safety on the rifle
behind him and corrected himself, they were all worried.
Just then the door of the club swung open and in limped Ueda and Koki
bruised. Kame could feel cold hands slide themselve into his stomach,
constricting him.
No, not them too.
"Survivors," Ueda gasped as he tried to catch his breath as
Maru helped him out of his clothes for the mandatory full body check
everytime they came back. "We saw other survivors." and that
made Kame pause.
There were of course other survivors besides the five of them but they
could never be sure of how to act around them. The end of civilization
had meant the lack of law and order as well. Riots and violence the
reason why so many building had been burned down. Some survivors were
okay, simply wanting help and some company, others were not so
friendly, proceding to loot and steal whatever they could get their
hands on.
Koki said nothing when Maru quietly helped him out of his clothes too and then,
"They took our stash and ran for it. Fought hard when we tried to
get it back those bastards." he spat. "Now we have to go out
all over again."
"But those survivors could be out there again, waiting to steal it."
"How about I go next time?" All heads turned to Junno, who
had finally spoken up since Ueda and Koki returned. "It's
kind of boring just sitting here all day you know. If I see those
survivors again, I'll just turn my rifle on them."
Kame does not know if the others realized it yet but Junno's smile
has been rather dim as of late. Like a star finally burning out. No
longer blinding them and irritating Koki who used to hit him on the
head for turning that smile on him. He wonders why.
***
Junno groaned as he shifted in his mattress, trying to outrun those
Infecteds even in his sleep. He just kept running but they seemed to
be catching up; spindly, atrophied hands reaching out to him. It was
just as one was just about to grab him that he was rudely shaken
awake.
"Hey, you okay?" Junno squinted his eyes as he tried to
discern who was the one that woke him up, Koki. He looked pretty
worried and Junno reached up a hand to rub Koki's shoulder,
silently telling him with each rub that he was okay, even if he
wasn't really feeling that way inside.
"Yeah I'm just dead tired." Junno replied which earned
him a light smack on the head "Go back to sleep."
Koki sighed and lied back down, beside Junno this time and Junno had
no complains there. He said nothing when Koki draped his arm over his
waist and even when Koki leaned into his chest and whispered a
muffled, "Goodnight."
Maybe those nightmares would finally go away.
***
The clock above their heads ticked softly as Koki paced around the
dance floor. He should have asked to go with Junno, not let that idiot
go on his own. It had taken both Ueda and Koki to fight off those
survivors, two guys and a girl. All had looked younger than Koki but
then again Koki thought of Maru and figured, one cannot really tell.
It would be next to impossible for Junno to fight the three of them
off, even with his rifle. There was safety in numbers, haven't
they all learned that already?
Behind him on the couch, he could hear Kame huffing about how they
should have sent him along too and pouted when they all ignored him,
again. They were never under any circumstances sending the youngest
amongst them out to die, they owed at least this much to Jin.
It felt like hours, but probably only half an hour, before Junno burst
into the room with two small boxes in hand and Koki released the
breath he had been holding for the past few minutes. Kame immediately
ran up to help Junno with his load, not wanting to seem useless.
"I ran into them too, pesky fellows." Koki scowled, then
walked up to Junno for the routine check and was slightly surprised
when Junno flinched as he reached for his hands but said nothing
otherwise. Koki also could not help but notice how Junno was
shivering, even though they were all perspiring from the midday heat
and lack of a proper air conditioning.
"You okay?" Whispering so that the others would not hear,
Koki turned Junno around with a cursory glance for wounds. He did have
a number of black and blue flowers blooming down his back and was just
about to call Maru to take over when Junno shook his head and mouthed
for the toilet with an apologetic smile when Koki's frown
deepened.
***
Junno slowly opened up his fingers as he slouched over the sink. An
angry red scratch stared back at him and Junno could see his knuckles
going white as he tightened his grip on the sink to stop the trembles
in his body. Those survivors he met were all taken down by the
Infected that were attracted by the din they created. He had barely
managed to escape, holding up his right hand to shield his face when
one was just about to grab him.
In the mirror, Junno could see tears flowing down his face as he
clenched his fist tightly once again, willing the scratch to go away.
It's just a scratch. Just a scratch.
***
Two days later and Junno thinks that maybe the scratch on his right
hand was really just that, a scratch.
Five days later, the fever came. A week later and he started coughing blood.
---
The night Jin died, Kame had gone back to their base, an abandoned
warehouse in Yokohama then, and locked himself in the room he had
shared with Jin. It took two days and Maru's constant worrying on
the other side of the door for Kame to come out but even then, he
hadn't talked for another few days.
They all noticed of course but never mentioned or even alluded to it
when Kame stopped wearing the pinky ring he had bought with Jin. Too
many painful memories.
The others did not have it easy too. Dealing with a moody Kame and
having to scout for the cure as well as food and other nessecities.
There were days where one of them, normally Ueda after he had a
particularly bad disagreement with Kame, would consider leaving
KAT-TUN behind but had never really meant it.
In the very end, they were KAT-TUN -one for all and all for one- even
if they do not really agree with it on most days.
---
When he opened the door to the rooftop for a smoke, the first thing
Ueda saw after his eyes adjusted to the midday sun was Junno, followed
by the gun in his hand.
"Does Koki know?" Ueda asked. He had already known it all
along anyway and he suspected the rest knew it too. Junno nodded and
fingered the gun in his hand, playing with the safety.
"I couldn't have kept it from him forever." A wry smile,
then the sound of the safety being pulled rang through the rooftop
with a stinging finality that felt almost surreal. Ueda briefly
thought about saying goodbye but when he tried, the words just got
stuck in his throat, a jumble of mess that threatens to choke him. So
he just gave up.
They had all agreed on it the night Jin died, if any of them were to
ever be infected, a shot to the head. Simple as that.
Ueda had to turn away as Junno pulled the trigger. He hoped for both
Junno and them that the shot rang true.
It did.
***
Later that night, Ueda was not sure if what happened in the afternoon
had anything to do with it but he could still hear Koki's sobs as
he pulled Junno's body closer to him in his head. Ueda felt
himself pulling Maru in harder, almost angry even, though he felt a
stab of guilt when he saw Maru wince from feeling strands of hair
pulled from their roots. Ueda knows there must be something wrong with
him but he sort of wants it, for Maru to feel a little pain, for him
to leave marks behind so that Maru won't forget this, forget him,
should anything happen to them.
***
It was a fitful sleep for Ueda that night as he trashed around on his
bed. His dreams, unlike Junno's, were never ones of running away.
They were mostly of him fighting, for Ueda was a fighter and fighters
never run away, for both his friends and himself.
In this particular dream, Ueda was running to Kame who had fallen to
the floor and was clawing his way away from the Infected that was
after him. Looking up, Ueda could see that the Infected had Jin's
face, or maybe it really was Akanishi Jin. It was a pretty wide guess
due to the large amount of decay that was already happening but Ueda
was quite sure that this was Jin.
The Jin-zombie had his arms raised, reaching for Kame and Kame just
kept trying to crawl away, with a twisted ankle.
Ueda had ran to Kame and lifted his gun, aiming for the zombie's
head the best he could with the trembling in his hands. Ueda did not
like shooting, which was why he had left lookout duty mostly to Junno
and most shootings were done by Koki but Ueda had to protect his
friends. He had failed them once before with Jin but not again.
Cocking the gun, he pulled the trigger, the resulting recoil startled
him awake and he turned around to find Maru sleeping soundly beside
him. Heaving a sigh, he laid back down, unable to go back to sleep.
It looks like it was going to be a long, long night.
***
Kame poured bleach onto the rooftop the next morning, in an attempt to
mask the smell of blood and to prevent more Infecteds from finding
them.
Junno's body was left at the back of the club, in an abandoned
alley that was more often than not deserted, save for the one or two
Infecteds that managed to find their way there.
***
It took a week and a half for Jin to develop the fever, the outbreak
having just started and all of them were unaware of the symptoms that
were to come. Kame worked night and day sponging Jin off, patting his
head when Jin felt uncomfortable and pushing hair away from his face
but that was just about all he could do.
Maru was busy poring over his books, trying to figure out why
Jin's fever was not going away despite the medicine he was already
administering. He tried to pin it down on dengue or typhoid but none
of the symptoms, other than the persistent high fever, matched.
The night Jin started coughing blood was the night they finally caught
a glimpse of the virus upclose. They could only look on in horror as
Jin kept coughing up more and more blood to the point where anemia
sets in.
It took three weeks for KAT-TUN to run to Jin's room, startled by
Kame's shout for Jin to back off.
"That's not Jin. That's not Jin." Kame had muttered,
mostly to himself as the five of them watched, transfixed by the
figure, still wearing the dirty white shirt Jin had been wearing for
the past five months, limping towards them, brown hair tousled and
flakes of skin slowly dropping off with every step.
Raising his rifle, Junno had spared Kame a sympathetic look and
whispered a soft "Sorry" before opening fire.
The Infected, they did not even called it Jin anymore, spasmed for a
second before falling to the floor with a soft thud, his pinky ring
glinting as it caught the sunlight that fell onto the forest ground
and Ueda had to use all his strength to stop Kame from running
forward, allowing the youngest to cry into his chest, hot tears
quickly soaking his ratty t-shirt.
---
Maru's nightmare that night were like every other of his
nightmares. He likes to think that there's a sense of familiarity
from always having the same horrors replay in his head, at least he
knows when he's going to be fucked up and when he should wake up.
Maru stood by the side as he watched his teammates being attacked by
the Infected, he tried to help but his legs were rooted to the gravel
below and his screams for the Infected to leave them alone were
usually ignored.
On most nights, amongst the Infected would be one that carried
Jin's face but tonight, one Infected that carried Junno's face
was right beside Jin's, dead eyes glinting as he pulled Koki into
some sort of a macabre embrace and lowered his head onto Koki's
neck, the latter's scream slowly disappearing.
It was only after the Infecteds were done with his teammates would
they finally turn to him as one. It was his own screams that he heard
as they lunged for him that woke him up everynight, like a clockwork.
***
A few more days of scouting and they concluded that the cure for the
virus was probably not here.
"What should we do now?" Koki asked, sitting on the bar
counter that was probably once filled with cups and bottles of
alcohol. They all turned to look at Kame who in turn shrugged.
"We move on I guess. Osaka maybe?"
"Maybe we'll get to meet Kanjani there." If they're
still alive. The second part was understood, even if nobody said it.
"So it's decided then?" Maru looked around and took the
silence he received to mean consent.
Koki sprang down from the counter and looped an arm around Kame,
"I'll help you pack." and received a smile in return.
Maru could only stare as he watched the both of them enter Kame's
room and locked the door behind them. A heavy hand on his shoulder
jolted him out of his reverie, Maru turned around and saw Ueda staring
at the door in front of them too,
"Leave them be, they need this."
He nodded in agreement and turned to his room to begin his own
packing- it would not take long seeing as they did not have much to
begin with. He mentally gave Koki and Kame a few hours till they were
due out though.
In the end, it did not really matter if they did not find a cure in
Osaka. There would still be hope as long as KAT-TUN stuck
together.