To Hell in a Handbasket (They're Coming to Get You, Barbara!)
TITLE: To Hell in a Handbasket (They're Coming to Get You, Barbara!)
GROUP: NEWS (maybe some hinted pairings if you really squint
RATING: PG-ish
WORD COUNT: 10,509
SUMMARY: The world collapsed into hell, filled with ghouls and crazies, and Yamashita does what he can to protect his bus boys. Fuck yeah, zombie!AU fic.
Tegoshi hates having to drive the bus. Mostly because the first time he did, just days after being picked up, a crazy jumped out in front of the bus, screaming and dirty and mouth foaming like an animal.
But, Tegoshi's mind wasn't quite up-to-par with developments, and he was still somewhat in shock and denial over what had happened, and he fell back on his most primal instinct: to slam on the brakes when someone jumps in front of your car.
The bus screeched to a halt. Koyama, Shige and Pi were screaming at him ("What are you doing?!" "Fucking go!"). The crazy was clawing at the windows and inching closer the door, the last bit of his rational mind telling him where the bus' door was.
So, Tegoshi hauled ass on the gas and left the crazy alone in the road.
-
Shige likes to think his parents made it out of Japan safely.
Once the state of emergency had been called, every one flocked to Narita and Kansai airports, figuring that soon, Japan would be quarantined, and they would all be left to die with the ghouls and crazies.
Shige's father was lost first in the crowd, trying to find them tickets. But, no one wanted yen; it was already useless as a currency. He and his mother stood by that lamp post for hours, anxiously waiting for his father to reappear, but he didn't. And, his mother knew what the father would want them to do.
She dragged Shige through security (what of it was left). They didn't have tickets, but most people didn't anyways. They pushed and shoved to get through to the gates, and were pushed and shoved right back. In that, he lost his mother, their grip on each other's hands weakening until Shige was standing alone in the crowd.
He likes to think they made it out of Japan safely and are comfortably living in Los Angeles, or Auckland, or Vancouver.
They're not though.
Shige's father was trampled in the crowd, and his mother, in her despair, thinking she'd lost them both to the ghouls and crazies, flung herself from a cliff.
-
They live in an old city bus, the four of them together, driving around, never staying in one place too long because it's dangerous. Yamashita was the first one, then he found Koyama, after that Shige, and lastly Tegoshi. It's small enough not to eat through gas took quickly, which Yamashita takes a certain amount of relief in, since stopping for anything is inherently dangerous. Most of the windows are boarded up for safety, but the windshield and a few on the sides are open during day so the driver can see.
The back half of the seats were ripped out by Yamashita and Koyama long ago, and now, an air mattress lies back there, covered with blankets and pillows. They all sleep there, huddling together for warmth. Some of them sleep more than others. Yamashita never seems to have any trouble, but will wake at the tiniest sound. Shige and Koyama both have their fitful nights of little rest. Tegoshi doesn't usually sleep at night anyways, just lays curled up between two of the others, clutching Pi's or Koyama's shirt in his hands, trembling.
He says it's because he was a spoiled only child and can't get used to this. But, really, he's just afraid of the dark, now that there really are monsters out there that want to eat him.
-
Their food and water supplies are running low. Koyama delivers the bad news, and Pi swears, because it means either scavenging or finding a fort.
As they drive, they watch for abandoned homes, but they only find ones that have obviously been ransacked already, and Pi makes the decision to find a fort.
The people who man forts can be anything from altruistic clergymen to yakuza that will just as soon kill you and take all your things than trade. And, you never know which you're going to get when you stumble upon a fort.
The guys in the bus get the latter.
Outside of the gates, there's five or six heavily armed men, looking angry and ready to get violent.
"All of you, stay here," is all Pi says, before grabbing his rifle and exiting the bus.
The guards laugh maliciously at Pi and his modest rifle.
"We're hoping to do a little trading."
One of the guards, obviously the leader, steps forward. "What would you possibly have that our boss doesn't already have plenty of?"
"You got any women in that thing of yours?" One of the others asks, and they all perk up.
"No, just men. We have specialty dried fish and squid from the coast, where Yokohama used to be."
The guard leader considers this, snaps his fingers and one of the other guards ducks into the fort.
"We're mainly look for rice and water."
"Water is a precious commodity. It'll cost you."
"How much?"
"Whatever you've got that we want. Maybe more."
Pi frowns.
"I've got an AK-47 on my hip, brother. As it is, you should hope mostly just to leave these gates alive."
A guard comes out from inside and whispers something to the leader.
"We'll take the fish. And then, get the hell out of my sight."
"Our water-"
The leader cocks his gun, and says again, "The fish."
Pi cocks his rifle too and takes a firm step backwards. "Go fuck yourselves."
The guards don't take too kindly to that, and Pi even thinks that maybe he should have said something a little less provocative. Until, that is, a smoke bomb comes flying over his head, and he can't see more than an arm's length away.
Pi rushes back to the bus, jumping in just as Shige peels away from the fort.
"Why did you use one of the smoke bombs?! We don't have that many left!" Pi snaps.
"B-but." Koyama wrings his hand together, looking pale with worry.
Pi sighs, understanding what Koyama wants to say with just that one word.
-
For Yamashita, these bus boys are his family. They're all he's got now, and he'll do whatever it takes to keep them safe.
The disease came out of nowhere, like an earthquake. Virologists figured out early it was man-made, but they weren't able to get any further than that before the symptoms and mass infections began. The skin of the infected turned white, their veins showing prominently through their skin and it stretched over their bones like there wasn't enough of it. They went wild, tearing everything apart and devouring people.
Some people were naturally immune to the disease, and they were thankful for that, but it didn't stop the ghouls - the infected - from eating them alive, or the crazies - people who were unable to accept what was happening to society - from physically tearing them apart in their madness.
Pi was the only one of his family immune. He kept his mother and sister safe in their family home while he did all the scavenging and hunting. They were healthy and fine, sequestered inside, and while it wasn't a perfect existence, Pi figured everything would be fine for his family.
Until his mother and sister went crazy, ripping out their hair by hand and scratching deep cuts into their arms and faces. He tried to help them, but they were past the point of being helped and had gone completely mad with misery and rage and regret.
He couldn't help them, and he knew it, so he did the only thing he could for them - he killed them. Pulled out his rifle and shot them both, right between the eyes, so it would be quick for them. He buried them in the backyard, marked their graves simply, and then left his childhood home behind, walking and walking and walking until he found that bus and made it his new home and filled it with a new family.
-
Koyama can live with a smile, because he knows, for a fact, that his sister, brother-in-law and two nephews are safely in South Korea. He saw them off from the pier in Tokyo Bay. He stood as far out on the pier as he could, keeping a strong face and doing his damnedest not to cry, while his sister and nephews did from the railing of the ship.
He's okay with not having made it on the ship. The crowd had slowed him down, and by the time he'd gotten through, the ship had already pushed off from shore.
His mother had been lost to the disease, and all he had left was his sister and her family. And knowing they were safe was enough. He could live and die happily knowing they were alright.
Yamashita had found him, at that same pier, nearly two weeks later. The Koyama of then wasn't one made for scavenging and hunting, and he'd barely eaten anything since the boat pushed off the pier.
"The world is nothing, and I am alone. Is there really a point in trying?" Koyama had said, and the sadness and pain in his tone nearly broke Yamapi's heart. He knew that if he left this man, he'd be eaten alive, or turn into a crazy, and Pi didn't have it in him to see either happen. So, he had carefully led this stranger up into the bus, and they drove off together, and that was the beginning.
-
All the windows of the bus are boarded up, and Tegoshi is already bundled up among the blankets. Shige is over with him, mumbling quietly in a one-sided conversation. Koyama and Yamapi are in the front few seats, trying to act calm as they talk, so the younger two won't be worried.
"We have to find supplies now," Yamapi whispers, and Koyama nods, looking almost guilty.
"But, the forts around here either won't trade, or just want to take what we have left without compensation."
"Maybe Ryo will trade with us."
"Ryo," Koyama almost shrieks. "Him?! Are you out of your mind?"
"He still owes me one."
"You are aware of who he runs with, aren't you?"
Yamapi nods and internally makes the decision, because it's not like they have much of a choice anyways.
They turn off the little lamp and make their way back to the air mattress.
"Where are we going tomorrow?" Tegoshi asks, and Koyama clicks his tongue in annoyance.
"To visit an old acquaintance," Yamapi says.
Shige mumbles something about Koyama being a blanket-hog, and after that, they all quiet down, and at least pretend to get some sleep.
-
The only reason that Nishikido Ryo has lived to the ripe old age of 25, is because, once, Yamapi happened to be in the right place, at the right time, to shoot a crazy in the back of the head before it took a bite out of Ryo's face.
He wasn't happy about the blood and gore splatter across his clothes, but after being that close to a crazy, he was mostly just relieved to have his face intact.
"We have to get out of here," Pi had said, jogging up to him. "The noise will attract others."
"I know, I know," Ryo had whined, wiping blood off his face.
They hid out for hours in a former restaurant's cellar, the door thick and safely closed.
"We should probably spend the night in here," Ryo whispered, and Pi guiltily nodded, knowing that it would make Koyama worry.
"I'm Ryo, by the way."
"Yamashita."
It was a long night, neither fully trusting the other, and the moment they thought the sun had risen and it was safe, they slowly moved the door, and spent several long minutes listening for crazies and ghouls before moving out of the building. They said a simple goodbye and moved in opposite directions.
When he got back to the bus, he could tell Koyama had been crying, and hadn't sleep at all.
"I was so worried," he croaked. "I thought you weren't coming back."
"I'm sorry," Yamapi said, rubbing Koyama's arm, trying to soothe him. "It got late, and you know how dangerous it is to move around at night."
Koyama nodded, and Pi slide into the driver's seat.
It was only a few days later that Pi and Koyama ran into Ryo.
They were driving along, minding their own business, when a man wearing a mask stepped into the road far in front of them, and just stood there, stock still. Pi slowed, concerned, because no crazy or ghoul would ever be so still.
"Just go around him," Koyama had said. "This isn't normal."
It wasn't, and neither were the three bullets that pingged loudly against the frame of the bus, right above the windshield.
"Drive," Koyama yelled, but by then, it was too late; concrete barriers, long ago placed in the road to control traffic, forced the bus around a corner, and there, piled high, debris blocked the road, and Pi had no choice but to slam on the brakes before the bus hit the pile. The door was ripped open, and he barely saw Koyama being pulled out the door, screaming.
Pi was next, two taller men grabbed him out of the seat and through the door of the bus, pushing him down onto the concrete outside. A few meters away, he could see where two more were holding down Koyama.
"Sack it," some one from on top of Pi said, and three others moved towards the bus.
Koyama started screaming, and Yamapi nearly did too, until he recognized one of the three.
"Ryo?" Pi shouted, trying to be heard over Koyama, "Ryo, that's you, isn't it?! Let us go!"
All seven of the men freeze, and when the three near the bus turn, Pi knew it was Ryo.
"This is the thanks I get for saving your life?!"
Even Koyama shut up then, and every one is very quiet, until a thin man near Ryo asked, "Is that true?"
Ryo looked like he might try to deny it, but after a long moment nodded.
A few of them sigh, like as much as they believe in eat-or-be-eaten, they still held onto some of their pride as men and human beings.
"Get off them," the thin man said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Koyama and Pi scrambled up, moving close to each other.
The man with the mask, the one who'd been in the road stepped forward. "Subaru, you know how much-"
"If he saved Ryo, it's not right to just steal it and leave them for dead."
The thin man - Subaru - moved away from the bus, and Ryo and the others followed him. The seven of them started disappearing into the streets and alleys, and something tugged at Yamapi.
"What were you after?"
"Gasoline," Ryo said, quietly as he passed by them. "Staying moving... is the best way to stay alive."
Yamapi and Koyama stood together, watching them leave, and Pi felt completely beside himself when he offered them a few gallons.
Koyama screamed at him, and Subaru looked cautious, like there had to be something else going on.
"Anything more and we'd be at risk. But, a few gallons we could part with and be okay."
Yamapi went up into the bus and came out with a three gallon gasoline jerry can.
"It's not totally full, but it'll get you somewhere."
The seven men who had stopped and tried to rob Koyama and Pi stood around awkwardly, like they were embarrassed by their actions and Pi's generousity.
"Are you serious?" Ryo asked, and Pi nodded.
He stepped forward, gingerly taking the can.
"If we abandon our fellow man in times like these, then we're no better than the crazies and ghouls."
Pi backed away, and motioned for Koyama to get in the bus.
-
Since then, the bus boys have occasionally run into Ryo and his compatriots, who refer to themselves as 'The 8Uppers', the most recent at a formerly abandoned fort that they'd cleaned out of crazies and ghouls and made their own.
With the exception of Koyama, they're cautious, but not unduly cold towards The 8Uppers. Koyama, for his part, can barely stand to look at them, his opinion of the group permanently colored by his first impression of them. If they happen to meet, he stays in the bus, seated in the driver's seat with a loaded shotgun in his hands. The idea that they should purposefully go to The 8Uppers' fort is disgusting, but Yamapi is the leader of their group, and Koyama knows once the decision has been made, it's written in stone.
-
Shige, for a long time, was utterly alone. Torn away from his parents and without any way to contact others, he sequestered himself in an old Buddhist temple. He spent all day reading ancient tomes and philosophical musing and hiding, alone and terrified, when he'd hear the sounds of crazies and ghouls. He spent weeks there, eating sparsely from the preserves the monks left behind and drinking from a well he was pretty sure they'd marked as holy.
The longer he sat there without another soul, reading deep concepts on what it meant to be alive, the more he thought that he would succumb to his loneliness and turn into a crazy, even though he really didn't want to. There was nothing left of the world, and he figured it was just a matter of time.
One day, sitting by a little fire, reading, he heard the outer doors of the temple ripped open. Shige dropped the papers, and scrambled for his hiding place under the floorboards. But, the varnished, heavy piece of floor wouldn't move this time, what with Shige's hands having been especially sweaty -- because the crazies had never bothered to actually enter the temple buildings before, just scream and crawl around the outside. The sound of doors opening got louder and louder, and Shige could feel his eyes watering. It was one thing to slowly turn into a crazy, but another thing entirely to be devoured by one. The set of doors to the room he was in opened, loudly, and Shige could hear the wood splintering as it hit the far end of the sliding path on the floor. Shige howled in misery, like he'd already been biten and clawed at the floor, like he still might have been able to find salvation under the floorboards.
He was pulled away from the floor by steady hands and when he actually bothered to look into the face of his doom, it was just a normal man, with none of the features of a ghoul or crazy. Shige stilled and was quiet, like in shock.
"It's just me," the man said, like it should have been reassuring to Shige. "Are you alone here?"
Shige nodded, his eyes wide.
"Do you know anything about medicine?"
Shige nodded again; the monks had left a large store of medicinal herbs and notebooks filled with treatment and cure how-to's that he'd read.
"My friend -- he's ill. Please, help him."
Shige let himself be led out of the temple grounds, the first time in more days and weeks than he could remember. He was weary of being somewhere unfamiliar, and so unprotected, out in the open. He was led to a dirty bus, with 'Tokyo Metro' and the Suica penguin painted on the side, where the man took Shige to the back, where there was another, curled up, shaking and sweating.
With something to focus on, Shige calmed and slowly looked him over, taking his pulse and trying to judge his temperature.
"It's a fever. I think. A bad one."
"Tell me where the herbs are. You can stay here, and I'll go get them."
"Past the room where you found me, there is a hallway. Second room on the left. There's a cabinet. Bring the Radish syrup, Calendula petals and Lemon Balm leaves."
Shige stayed camped in the bus with the two men - Yamapi and Koyama - for two days, until Koyama's fever broke, and he looked up at Shige, deliriously, and Yamapi just sighed in relief.
"Are you coming with us?" Koyama asked, completely innocently, a few more days later when he was back in good health.
Shige looked a little shocked, like he didn't think they would allow it, and turned between Koyama and Yamapi a few times. "... Can I?"
"Of course," Pi answered. "You practically saved Koyama."
Shige felt his throat tighten up, and that night, before they all fell sleep, Koyama mumbled into Shige's shoulder that he thought their finding Shige was like fate.
In the morning, they cleared out the temple of all the food preserves and medicinal herbs, filled up their water jugs and Shige left that place behind, along with his worries about becoming a crazy.
-
When they pull up to The 8Uppers fort, Koyama slouches in his bench seat, gripping his shotgun so tightly that his knuckles are white. Someone looks down from the other side of the wall of the fort, and a moment later, the doors are opening, and Yamapi slowly pulls the bus in, and the doors are closed behind them.
"I'm staying here," Koyama says, voice grim.
Pi nods; he didn't need to be told that.
"Tegoshi, why don't you come with me this time?" Pi asks, and from the back of the bus, Tegoshi's face lights up.
"Really?!"
Yamapi just beckons Tegoshi with his hands and steps out of the bus, and their youngest member follows him out dutifully. He could have asked Shige, but Pi knows that Koyama trusts Shige a lot. Maybe even more than he trusts Yamapi, and Koyama will feel safer with Shige waiting in the bus with him.
Yokoyama and Maruyama, the two who must have been on guard, are gentlemanly enough not to greet Yamapi and Tegoshi with their guns.
"What brings you 'round here?" Yokoyama asks, in a friendly tone, but Pi knows better than to think he's being friendly.
"The forts all around are going crazy."
"How so?"
"Acting like hoarding is the best method. Like they can make it if they reject everyone else and abandon their humanity for the sake of survival."
Maruyama and Yokoyama laugh.
"Go on in and talk with Hina and Subaru," Maruyama says, giving Tegoshi a pat on the shoulder as they walk by. "Me and Yoko don't have the attention span for such serious sounding talk."
Tegoshi and Yamapi disappear into the building, and Koyama swears in his seat, watching through the windshield.
"I really hate having to come here," he mumbles, body tense.
"It'll be fine," Shige whispers, leaning over the seat to pat Koyama on the back. "They still owe us a lot."
Koyama grumbles.
"Reciprocity debt, and all," Shige adds.
-
"The forts are turning mad," Yamapi says; Hina and Subaru nods their heads in agreement.
"It's because they're finally realizing this isn't a short-term problem. That the crazies and ghouls aren't going to just disappear."
"And, that no one is coming to our rescue."
"A diseased little island, huh?" Pi asks, laughing almost sarcastically.
"You look exhausted, and it'll take us a few days to get everything together for you guys," Hina says, standing. "Stay here, and get some quality rest for once."
Hina and Subaru leave. Tegoshi is still sitting in the corner, looking a little worried, with Ryo and Pi at a scuffed table in the center of the room.
"We have room. Just stay here with us," Ryo says, scratching at the table.
"We couldn't."
"There's plenty of space, and it's safer here."
Pi shakes his head. "Koyama is sitting in the bus, holding his shotgun. He won't like the fact that we'll be here for a few days as it is."
"I don't see how you guys can stand to be so transient. I hated living like that."
-
Koyama does hate the news that they'd be staying with The 8Uppers for a few days. Even looked willing to waste some buck shot on shooting at something to alleviate the stress.
"I'm sorry, Koyama, but we don't have much choice."
"You really think this is a good idea? You really think any of us can afford to sleep inside the walls of this fort?"
"Kei-chan, relax," Tegoshi whines.
"I'm not sleeping," Koyama says, frowning, still holding his shotgun.
And, he doesn't. At least, not at night. Tegoshi sleeps in the fort, feeling safer there, and Yamapi and Shige curl up on the air mattress, while Koyama stands guard, catching up on his own sleep during the daylight hours.
-
The filled water barrels stashed in the undercarriage, and rations stuffed among the seats is a welcomed sight; once everything is put away, Koyama asks when they can leave.
Pi says soon, and Koyama steps back into the bus, waiting.
Tegoshi is standing off to the side, talking with Yasuda, wringing his hands in his shirt and looking a tad lost. Shige calls for him, but Tegoshi doesn't move.
Shige calls him again, and Pi just watches; Tegoshi's stiff shoulders, teeth gnawing at his lips, and eyes terrified. Yasuda looks sympathetic, his eyes soft.
"Ryo-chan," Pi says, "do you think it would be alright to let Tegoshi stay here and rest a little longer?"
Ryo turns to look at the boy too, and locks eyes with Yasuda, who gives Ryo a firm stare.
"Yes," he replies, quietly. "It would be fine."
It's always obvious when someone's terror has exhausted them.
-
Tegoshi had been locked in a footlocker for three whole days when the others had found him.
His parents had put him there, crying as they shoved him in alone, when they'd heard the crazies coming and knew there wasn't enough time to get away. Tegoshi was trapped in complete darkness, while he heard them rip his parents apart, and then for days after, trembling and crying, figuring he'd die soon enough anyways.
On the third day, he heard people talking, but through the metal and leather, he couldn't hear what they were saying. It didn't sound like the meaningless murmuring of ghouls, or screaming of crazies, and Tegoshi dared to hope that maybe a footlocker wouldn't be his tomb.
He heard the lock pop open, and the top slowly open, and a man with single eyelids, framed by blinding sunlight, looked down at him sympathetically.
"Are you alright?"
Tegoshi just started crying again, hands balled up into fists, pressing into his eyes.
He was helped up and out, too scared to look past his hands. When they got him into the bus, he curled up on the air mattress, wrapped in blankets, and kept crying until he fell asleep.
-
They head out towards the coast, practically in a beeline. They're all hoping to catch some fish, and add to their rations, or gain something worth bartering.
Koyama wasn't happy about leaving Tegoshi with Ryo and others, practically threw a fit and tried to drag Tegoshi into the bus himself. The only thing that stopped him was Shige, firm and logical, to his side, and Yasuda's gentle tones about what would be best for Tegoshi. Leaving their youngest behind with people he less-than-trusted was no easy thing for Koyama, and for days, when not driving, he would sit in the back of the bus, visibly stressed and worried.
"Tegoshi will be fine," Shige and Pi both tell him. "You know how much trouble he's had since we found him. He needs this to feel safe again."
Koyama would nod, and act like he's agreeing, but the other two know him well enough to know he's faking it.
-
They camp out by a pier in Chiba for several days.
In the mornings, Koyama and Pi watch Shige fish, laying out a generally modest catch. In the afternoons, they attempt to scavenge what they can, but there's usually not much. Everything has been thoroughly picked over by other survivors.
Normally, they'd be able move at a fast pace, splitting into teams of two. But, they're odd-numbered now, just the three of them. And, even if Pi is an amazing shot, able to hit anything, regardless of the distance, and Koyama can run forever, like the wind, and Shige is careful and logical, never doing anything stupid or dangerous, it is an unspoken agreement that no one is ever alone. They travel and do everything in a group, when before it would be Tegoshi and Shige at the pier, while Koyama and Pi poked around for whatever they could find.
At night, they curl up on the mattress, it feeling impossibly large without their fourth. Koyama doesn't sleep much, and Shige can't either, because he's in tune with Koyama like that. Pi does, but it's fitful, and not restful.
-
They're in a sleepy, old, sea-side community. And, even in death, there's nothing happening here.
Most of the time.
On the third day, a man comes rolling up on a bike, stopping just a few meters from their circle around a small fire. Koyama and Pi reach for their guns, and Shige moves behind them, in a defensive position.
"Hello," the mans says, cheerfully, like they're not living in hell on Earth.
"What do you want?" Pi asks, tone short.
The man blinks, taken aback. "I just... I haven't seen anyone other than ghouls or crazies in a while."
Koyama scoffs. "You really think we're so stupid that we'd fall for that? Where are your comrades? Are they coming from behind?" Koyama turns, checking their back, and Shige looks stressed with the barrel of Koyama's shotgun pointing so close to his general direction.
The man on the bike looks down at his feet, and in a devastated, heart-broken voice says, "I lost them."
Koyama is still scanning around their back, but Pi lowers his gun. "... Come. Sit."
"Yamashita!" Koyama snaps. "You're mad!"
But, when he gets a good look at the stranger's face, and sees the blatant joy and gratitude there, Koyama can't really find it in himself to stay upset.
-
The man's name is Massu, was born in this town 24 years prior, and in the last year watched it fall to pieces, the citizens turning to ghouls and crazies, until he was the last person left in their right mind and body.
He's made his new home in the vault of the town's bank, behind it's thick, locking door.
"I come out every few days to check the traps I've left for rabbits and such," he says. "I saw you from the far end of the beach, and came right over."
"Isn't it lonely here? Alone?"
Massu is still, then nods. "I've always been a scaredy cat, though."
Pi can both tell from both Koyama and Shige's eyes that they want to invite this stranger with them. Those two know the pain of loneliness well, and are empathetic to it.
"We were planning to stay around here for a few days before moving on. At the least, we can give you some company for the time being," Pi murmurs, pouring himself another cup of tea.
Massu looks grateful, just for that, and Koyama and Shige look somewhat appeased.
-
Even though Pi's new family is made entirely of people who were once strangers, he is still inherently weary of unknown persons, still. The four of them found their way together, and he's fine with the way things are; they don't need a fifth.
But, with how friendly Koyama is once he warms up to someone, and Shige with his big heart, Pi knows it will tear them to pieces to leave Massu behind once they leave. Pi is hesitant to bring him along, but Koyama and Shige are already so attached after only a few days. Pi doesn't tell them when they're leaving, but those two can read Pi well enough to know.
That night, once Massu is safely back in his vault, and the boys in their bus, they talk.
"You know Tegoshi won't mind. Massu'll just be one more person for him to wrap around his pinky finger."
Pi grumbles.
"He acts like he's fine," Shige whispers. "But, if we leave him, it's only a matter of time until he turns into a crazy."
No one comments on Shige's unspoken, "like I would have."
"It's in these times especially that we can't abandon our fellow man," Koyama says.
Pi frowns, and snaps, "I know."
"Then, why don't you want to bring him along?"
"Because, we don't need him. He'll just be one more mouth to feed, and you know we already have enough problems with the four of us."
"It doesn't feel right," Shige murmurs, and Pi considers pulling rank.
-
Pi wants to leave town like they arrived -- quietly. But, Koyama nearly throws a hissy fit, and makes him wait until nearly 10am, when Massu normally shows up to hang out for the day. Pi doesn't even leave the bus when Shige and Koyama exit to say their goodbyes.
"I'm sorry you had to come all the this way just to hear this," Koyama says sadly.
"If we're firm together, maybe Yamashita will change his mind," Shige whispers, but doesn't look hopeful.
Massu smiles. "I'm okay here. Just swing by every so often and visit me. That's enough." Shige nearly interjects, but he's cut off by Massu. "Really. I've been doing fine for this long, haven't I?"
Koyama frets at his bottom lip, and Shige hugs him tight for a moment before they get back on the bus, and leave Massu standing in the road alone.
-
But, when they get back to The 8Uppers fort, things are not well.
There are scorch marks and burns -- like those from a grenade -- on the outside walls, and when Pi calls over the side, the man who replies is wholly unfamiliar.
"Where is Shibutani? Murakami?" Pi shouts, and the guard scoffs, not answering.
"Are you sure this is the right one?" Koyama asks, and Shige answers before he can.
"The 8Uppers took over an abandoned Jesuit fort; hadn't you noticed? Now, look up there. You can still see where the crosses and such were painted, though they've worn off a bit without the upkeep."
Koyama pales. "Where is Tegoshi?"
No one answers.
"This is why I didn't want to leave him with those people," Koyama moans, like he's in pain and curls into an awkwardly shaped ball on his seat.
-
"They must have been run out," Pi says that night, after the bus is hidden in the undergrowth of a forest, and the three of them are curled up under the blankets of the air mattress.
"But, for The 8Uppers to have been run out... They're no weak fighters."
Koyama trembles.
Pi watches as Shige rolls over to rub soft circles over Koyama's back.
"If anyone could survive out in these wilds, it's The 8Uppers. Where ever they are, they have Tegoshi. And, he's fine."
-
While Pi considered The 8Uppers allies in a hostile world, maybe even friendly acquaintances, they didn't share much in the way of information. Pi had no idea of knowing if they had somewhere else safe they might head towards, or a second, hidden fort, or an old, converted bunker, like were so popular in the early days of the shitfest that Japan turned into.
Asking around the other forts doesn't produce much in the way of leads either. Information, like all things, comes at a price, and Pi wasn't at all willing to part with their rations or stock. And, after one especially seedy fort offered to trade something about The 8Uppers' Maruyama and Ohkura for Koyama, Pi stopped asking forts altogether, opting to park the bus in an old garage and spend a few days forming a real plan.
Pi mulls and sits alone in the back of the bus, thinking and always asking to be alone for days. Koyama and Shige go out on short, quiet, careful scavenging hunts, checking over the nearby grounds for anything of value that might have been overlooked. Urban environments are dangerous -- there are lots of places for crazies and ghouls and human traffickers to hide out and surprise you -- but, Koyama and Shige know that, and Pi knows they'll be careful.
On the third day, just before the sun sets, about the time Pi actually started getting a bit frantic about their prolonged absence, they come rushing back, out of breath, looking pale. Koyama's hands are shaking, and Shige has a bloody, metal pipe in his hands.
Pi doesn't ask who attacked them. He doesn't like traveling at night (it draws far too much attention), but he also knows it's not safe to stay here when the pair could have been followed. He drives without the lights, using just the last traces of sunlight to find a new place, while Shige and Koyama board up the windows.
An old storm drainage system becomes their new safeguard for the night. Koyama and Shige clean themselves up as much as possible before climbing in bed, still jittery, and cling to each other before they fall into a shallow sleep.
Pi is still in the driver's seat, thinking, growing ever more concerned for their lost fourth.
-
In the morning, once Koyama and Shige have awoken, bags under their eyes and jumping at even the least consequential of noises, Pi surprises them.
"We're going back to get Massu," he says, voice absolute.
"What changed your mind?"
"We've lost Tegoshi and The 8Uppers." Pi pinches the bridge of his nose, like he's exhausted. "And, I don't want this same thing to happen someday with Massu."
Koyama and Shige don't argue with him, just sit behind the driver's wheel and stare blankly out the window.
When they arrive, Massu looks down at them from the roof of the bank, a curious look on his face.
"I didn't except you back so soon," he says, smiling, obviously happy about it.
Pi waves out the window, and turns to Koyama and Shige behind him. "Go in. Get him out."
-
Koyama tells Massu everything, his voice frantic the whole time.
About The 8Uppers, and why he doesn't like them. About leaving their fourth to rest a bit, about them getting run out of the fort, about how no one will tell them anything and they can't find him. About the nights spent in the garage and scavenging in the city, about the ghouls and crazies that jumped out of every crevice, about the blood splatters along walls and asphalt roads. About Pi not wanting them to come back one day to find Massu inexplicably gone.
"It would kill us," Shige whispers, holding onto Koyama by the arm. "Just- Let's go get your things, and come with us."
Massu looks on sadly, like he's torn and sympathetic.
"It feels right for you to come with us," Koyama adds.
"Okay," Massu finally says. "Okay."
Shige's bottom lip quivers, and Koyama holds onto his chest, taking deep breaths.
Massu doesn't have much; a few days worth of rations, a broken shortwave radio, some nice wool blankets, a wooden block puzzle thing. Nothing that would take up much room. They pack his things up, and get the hell out of town.
It's a tad bit awkward that night, when Yamapi collapses into bed, tired from a day of driving, and Massu asks where the rest of them are going to sleep.
"In bed. Where else would we?" Koyama replies.
Massu flushes and stammers on his words, "B-but, four guys? In-- in one bed. That's-"
"The safest thing," Shige says, pushing Massu gently towards the back of the bus. "You can sleep at the edge if it'll make you more comfortable."
It takes their newest addition a few days to get used to it, and even after that, he always takes the one far side, usually with Shige sleeping on his other side. No one complains about it; they all have their weird little quirks.
-
"What now?" Koyama asks Pi, one afternoon when they're out scavenging, picking through an abandoned barn.
Pi is silent for a long moment, until he says, "... I think we should head towards the Kokkai -- the Diet."
Koyama drops a daikon in his shock and has to refrain from shouting. "The Diet?!" He hisses. "What the hell do you think they'd be able to do?! That's the absolute last fort we should ask about Tegoshi!"
"I know they're fakes," Pi mutters, stuffing a few carrots into his bag. "Not even politicians or public servants anymore, just bullies and cowards. But, for an unarmed group, the surrounding areas are pretty safe."
"The 8Uppers won't be unarmed."
"Considering they were run out of their fort, they may very well be at this point. They have no way of getting out of the city, so the only logical decision would to be towards the safest area in the city."
"The Diet," Koyama whimpers. "We'll be lucky to leave that neighborhood with our heads."
Shige isn't thrilled about the idea either when they get back.
"What's left of the SDF shoots first and asks later. Doesn't even bothering to find out if it's a crazy, or a ghoul, or some poor bastard that's managed to survive through this."
"I agree with Shige," Koyama says, pleadingly. "They won't help us anyways."
"We don't have that many options on who to ask."
"Um." Massu looks up from peeling vegetables. "What's wrong with the Diet?"
The three are silent, until Koyama whispers, "I guess the news didn't get out to you before everything fell."
"It's what's left of the Diet, its members -- or, so they say they are -- and the SDF," Shige continues. "The Diet hides in the building -- it's practically impenetrable -- carrying on passing laws and such like nothing's happened. And, the SDF is their personal military, plundering and taking what they will from people in what they call the greater good."
Massu turns to Yamapi. "And, we're going there?"
Pi frowns. "Don't turn him against my ideas so quickly. It's like I told Koyama -- the grounds around it are safe, and I think we should check it out. If you don't want to come, we can go back to the bank vault. I'll leave you all there while I go check it out alone."
Koyama pales, and dives forward, grabbing Pi around the arm. "No. No. You will not go alone. We have rules. It's how we've survived."
"Koyama is right." Shige says, oddly firm, even for him. "We said it was a bad idea; not that we would make you go into that hell on your own."
-
Showing up in Nihonbashi in their bus would have been something stupid beyond belief. The SDF would have ransacked it, and left the boys for dead. They leave it amongst overgrowth in a park on the far side of the Imperial Palace and walk from there.
It's been a long time for Koyama, Pi and Shige to be this deep into the city. But, they are still well aware of its dangers -- the roads are narrow and don't follow a grid, there are plenty of places to hide, and it's easy to be trapped and caught, especially among the overturned cars and blockades that still litter the streets. Massu's baseball bat is tight in his hands; he's never been this far into Tokyo, even before the outbreak. Every little noise puts him on edge, and he hangs close to the others. They move quickly, stopping for nothing; not the cars still loaded with goods that they could take, not the scream they hear a mile or so off. They have a goal -- the Diet and Tegoshi -- and nothing they see or hear gives them pause.
Just as the Diet building comes into their view, they run into a manned blockade, garrisoned with emotionless, brutal guards. Pi doesn't want to give them any reason to think the boys are anything but fully-function, normal people.
"Hello?" He calls out, placing his rifle on the ground, and raising his hands in the air, showing that he's unarmed. The others follow suit. "Anyone there?"
There's some hollering from the blockade. "This the Diet's ground! You'd best leave, boy!"
"I have business around these grounds."
There's a shocked yell, and a bulky fellow jumps over the sandbags and stalks towards Pi. "What did you say?!"
"I'm looking for someone," Pi continues, voice steady.
"You think I give a damn?"
"No."
The man laughs. "At least you understand the situation. And, why do you think I'd tell you anything about who meanders around the Diet?"
"I have some news you might be interested in."
There are jeering calls from the blockade. "What could a strangler tell me that our elite scouts couldn't?"
"This comes from the far west side of the city. A couple days drive. Do your scouts get that far?"
The man frowns.
Pi smirks, but not enough for the soldier to notice, what with the distance between them and lowers his arms. "You've lost some grenades recently, haven't you?"
The man stiffens, and the air falls dead, heavy, silent.
"Or, more likely, they were taken. That couldn't have been a proud moment for you all."
"Get on with it!" The man snaps.
"I know a group who has, at the least, some of them. I saw the scorch marks myself on the outer wall of a fort that they now hold. Give me a map, and I'll show you right where they are."
The man regards Pi, and then asks, rather calmly, "What is it that you want?"
"Do you happen to know about The 8Uppers? Or, are there new people around the Diet, taking advantage of the safer grounds?"
The guard turns, and Koyama makes a weak squeaking sound. Pi doesn't move, and with a simple hand gesture, keeps the others still as well. The lead guard -- or, at least he acts like he is -- doesn't come back for nearly an hour, but when he does, he's got a pen and a map. He throws them at Pi's feet, who doesn't waste time unfolding it and marking where The 8Uppers old fort is, where the new occupants are obviously in possession of stolen SDF hand grenades and tosses it back.
"None of my men have heard of these '8Uppers,' but there's a new street group on the other side of Sotobori that joined up with a local one. Rather firm and determined to hold onto their lands and keep them clean, from what I've been told. Apparently, they came out of nowhere one day and were mighty enough to bring other street gangs under their fold. They don't look too threatening, but damn those kids know how to survive."
"I see. I'm glad we could work something out."
And, just as carefully as they entered the area, the boys leave the intersection with the blockade, making their way through the streets back to the bus.
Massu is the one, though, who voices all their fears. "Can we make it back to the bus before nightfall?"
No one answers. Because none of them want to think about what it would mean to not make it back.
"We should have left Shige and Massu with the bus," Koyama hisses to Pi, who's just in front of him. "They're no good in a fight, or a run."
"They're strong enough to take care of themselves," Pi whispers, and picks up his pace.
Koyama turns and eyes the other two worryingly.
Nightfall comes earlier in the city, what with all the old skyscrapers blocking out the sun far before it actually drops below the horizon. Which means that crazy and ghouls, favoring the cool night air, are more active and more aggressive. A ghoul stumbles around a corner, and Pi doesn't hesitate in the least before he puts a bullet in its head.
"We're running from here," Pi says, setting the pace yet again.
Koyama drops back, behind Shige and Massu.
"What are you doing?" Shige snaps, and Koyama replies, "I'm not letting either of you fall behind."
Massu trembles at those words and thinks about how he'd always been better at sprints.
-
The ghouls, in the grand scope of things, aren't too bad. They're slow and easy enough to overpower when they're in small numbers, so it's only really a person's bad luck that gets them trapped by a group where there's no way of fighting your way out. Crazies though are faster; they can't run as fast a normal person, but they don't seem to put much worry into exhaustion, and just keep running and running and running, until you can't run anymore, and then, they're on you, ripping into your skin.
By now, the sun is well past the horizon, and all that's lighting the way is the moon, mockingly half-full. There's a trail of ghouls and crazies behind them -- far more than they could ever hope to fight off -- and the bus is still a good kilometer away. Pi continues to lead the way with Koyama in the back, holding back tears, because the longer he pushes Shige and Massu on, and the longer he hears the moans of ghouls and screams of crazies right behind him, he worries if these two will make if. If they stumble and fall, there's no time to get up; a crazy would be on top of them. And, there would be no turning around with a merciful bullet to the head of a friend. That would be your own death sentence; you'd have to leave them there, to be devoured alive.
Koyama just prays to every God he can think of to grant, in what little mercy he must have, these two the strength to make it.
The noise they make draws more ghouls and crazies out of the side streets, threatening to break their formation.
"We can't slow down!" Pi yells behind him.
Just ahead of them, there's a glint of moonlight off metal and windshield. Pi dashes ahead of them, running full tilt into the body of the bus, scrambling with the latch of the door. A ghoul groans next to him, but he can barely take notice of it before Massu is next to him, slamming his baseball bat down on its head, a sickening crack-sound going through the air before the ghoul falls. Pi pushes Massu onto the bus, practically throws Shige and Koyama up once they're within arms length, and dives in himself, the door clicking shut behind him.
Koyama is hysterical, Shige is throwing up into an empty bucket, and Massu is trying to get the bus' key into the ignition so they can get the hell out of there. It seems to take forever for the bus to roar to life, for Massu to keep his sweaty hand from slipping on the gear shift and for them to push through the horde of ghouls and crazies and leave that hell of a park behind them.
-
After a couple of hours, when their trail of non-people is gone, they find an old auto repair shop, and shut the gate behind them, giving themselves an added layer of protection.
Pi turns to his boys and takes stock. Shige still looks ill, Koyama's eyes are red, and there might be tear-tracks on his face, and Massu looks fairly traumatized.
"We need to make sure," Pi whispers, and starts taking off layers.
"What?" Massu asks, voice small.
"We have to make sure none of us were scratched," Shige explains, and follows suit.
It takes Koyama a bit longer to strip and look himself over. He does it like he hates this whole thing, like finding a bloody mark on one of them would be too much to bear. Shige and Pi check themselves over, examining every square inch of their own skin, and collapse into seats when there's nothing. But, that's not enough for Koyama. First Shige, and then Pi, he drags them back up, and looks them over himself, pressing his fingers into their skin to make sure it's still warm and wholly human; he has to see and be sure with his own hands and eyes.
When he finds them unblemished too, he collapses in a similar manner and pokes at Massu. "Your turn."
It seems odd to him; he'd know if he'd been scratched or bitten, but in a world like hell, sometimes that's not enough. Koyama checks him over in the same manner, thorough and complete, and it feels weird to Massu to have another person -- let alone a guy -- this close, nearly-naked, after so long of having been alone. He can feel Koyama trembling behind him, sweeping fingers over skin and turning limbs this way and that to be absolutely sure.
"We're all fine," Koyama chokes out, and Shige rubs his back.
"Rest as much as you can tonight," Pi says, putting some of his clothes back on. "Tomorrow, we're heading to Sotobori."
If Pi thinks any of them would be able to actually sleep that night, he's delusional, but none of them say it.
-
Sotobori isn't hard to find, and it isn't hard to get into the surrounding neighborhood. What is difficult, is finding the people therein.
For the streets to be so clean of walking ghouls and running crazies, and instead littered with their fallen bodies means that there are proper people active here, protecting their streets and a defined perimeter. But, there is no other sign of them; no blockade, no patrolmen, no gunners from the rooftops shouting down at them. It's odd and a little off-putting, because this place isn't functioning like normal.
"Maybe they've moved on?" Koyama asks, and Pi shakes his head.
"Ghouls and crazies would have moved back in. There is a constant, stable force here doing this work."
"Then why don't they come out?" Massu murmurs, stepping over the arm of a ghoul.
"They have no reason to. We're strangers in their territory; they have no stake in our safe passage," Shige says, louder than is normal in this sort of environment, because he's pulling up the rear of their walking formation.
"They're watching," Yamapi sighs. "They know we're here and are waiting to see what we do."
They keep moving, passing fallen ghoul after crazy after ghoul, with the only movement and sound their own. Simple things like branches swaying in the wind set off Koyama and Massu's worrying, and a dog digging through garbage surprises Yamapi.
They pass a ghoul, face down in the road, and don't give it a second thought.
Until Shige calls out a tense, wavering, "G-guys-"
They turn and nearly drop their weapons in surprise.
There's a man, dressed and looking like a ghoul, but his eyes say everything -- they're clear and sane. He has Shige in a hold and a gun to his head.
"S-Shige!" Koyama whimpers, and takes a step forward, but the ghoul-dressed man just presses the muzzle harder against Shige's head.
"What are you doing in Sotobori?" He asks, voice hoarse, like he hasn't spoken in days.
Koyama weakly latches onto Massu, and turns to Pi with pleading eyes.
"We're looking for someone, that's all," Pi says, trying to look as harmless as possible. "If they're not here, we'll leave right away."
"Who?"
"The 8Uppers, and a young man named Tegoshi. We heard some new people had moved into Sotobori and thought..."
"I don't know The 8Uppers, but our leaders refer to themselves by a word with 'eight' in it as well."
"Where are these leaders?"
The man laughs. "Like I have the authority to say. If the street boss likes you, maybe he'll tell."
"And, he is?"
There's a commotion to the side, just above the sidewalk; a few men jump out of a second story window, and carefully march towards Yamapi.
"Right here," the one says, and Pi can only assume he's the street boss.
"I have to find my missing friends. They're not stupid enough to get killed."
"You mentioned a Tegoshi. That wouldn't happen to make you Yamashita, would it?"
Koyama gasps and gets this stupidly happy looking, blurting out, "yes," before Yamapi can.
The street boss waves his hand, and the man behind Shige backs off. Shige bolts forward, planting himself between Koyama and Massu, frowning.
"Keep following this road until you reach Akasaka Station, and follow the Chiyoda line's tracks south to Nogizaka Station. But, before you start walking along the tracks, shout 'vision without action is a daydream' down the tunnel, so the others will know it's safe for you to pass."
Yamapi takes a deep breath, feeling like all this work and worry will finally end in Nogizaka. "Thank you."
"Just get out of my sector," the street boss, turning back towards the building where he'd been hold up.
-
They follow his instructions to the letter.
Jumping down onto the subway tracks had felt a little weird, especially since there was so little light -- just a few last back-up bulbs hanging from the roof of the tunnel. There's barely enough light to see, and all the four of them trip often; over rocks and the tracks and whatever else is littering the ground there.
Even though the street boss had said the tunnel was guarded, there's no sign of people, and not even of ghouls and crazies. The dark calm is unsettling, because it's something they haven't known for so long.
As the light from Nogizaka Station comes into view, they see their first person; a silhouette of a man, standing far off, but there's no outline of a weapon, and they all wonder what the hell kind of a sentry this person is.
And, once they get closer, they realize, he's not a sentry at all -- is just there to greet them, smiling with crinkles next to his eyes.
Yamapi trembles when he sees the man's face, and for once, drops his rifle, and breaks into a sprint, nearly tackling him to the ground.
"Ryo-chan," Pi whimpers, voice cracking, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.
"Wha- Dude, calm down!"
The others catch up, Koyama carrying Pi's rifle, and look at Ryo with equal levels of disbelief.
"I can't believe you guys followed us this far," Ryo says, smiling.
"Where is Tegoshi?" Shige and Koyama asks, at the same time, in perfect tandem.
Ryo just tells them to follow him.
Massu trails along behind them, feeling just a tad-bit left out.
On the way, they run into Yokoyama and Hina, who say something about today being their and Ryo's 'day off,' which is a touch confusing to the others, but they don't linger, not when, after all this time, Tegoshi is so close.
He's in the kitchen, peeling potatoes for curry.
"Tegoshi," Koyama half sobs, half screeches, and dashes forward. Tegoshi turns, in shock from hearing that voice, and it's only his quick reflexes that keep him from accidently cutting Koyama's arm with the knife he's still holding.
"I- How-"
Koyama's not even pretending to hide his sniffling, and Tegoshi isn't much either. Shige and Yamapi step up too, though remain far more composed.
Tegoshi is the first to take notice of Massu, spotting him over Koyama's bent head.
"Oh, hello. I'm Tegoshi."
"Massu," he says, smiling. "I've heard a lot about you."
-
"It wasn't fun getting here," Tegoshi says, later that night, sitting around with the others. "We spent three days in the wilds before we got here and hooked up with another street gang."
"Poor Tegoshi," Koyama coos, petting him on the head.
"It was either leave the fort willingly, or be left for dead for the ghouls and crazies," Ryo explains. "We snuck out what we could while Subaru and Hina parlayed with the guys who attacked us. They were serious; had grenades, automatic weapons and some crazy good training. We didn't stand a chance. We'd worked with the head of this gang before, and it had gone well, so we headed this direction."
"Who's in charge here, anyways?" Pi asks "I should-"
Ryo waves his hand, dismissing Pi's concerns. "He'll be happy to have a few more good men around to fight and take watch. His name is Johnny, and he's an old, shrewd bastard, but damn good at defensive planning and such. You'll see him around."
"Wait, wait," Shige says, leaning forward into the conversation. "We're not going back to the bus?"
"I like it here. It's safer than even a regular fort," Tegoshi states, like his opinion is the only that matters.
Yamapi yawns, setting down his empty bowl of curry. "We've had a tough time getting here, at the least, let's take some time and rest, and then we'll decide."
-
Three weeks later, and they haven't left the station for anything other than turns at patrol and bringing their bus into the safe-zone nearby. Their rations are slowly turning into everyone's rations, and trading with strangers turns into trading with neighbors and friends.
Shige falls in love with their rough, unkept library, the pet-project of a fellow named Nakamaru, who says, "If we forget who we were, there's no hope in rebuilding." He takes it upon himself, on his days off, of course, to properly organize the books, slowly remembering the Dewey Decimal System.
Koyama can't tear himself from the group of kids, aged from infants to young teenagers, that are kept safe in the station. He sees his nephews in all of them, and they see a new family, and Koyama can't stand to tear their lives apart like that again.
Massu bonds with Tegoshi -- a most unexpected pair -- and sides with him on the whole not-leaving issue. And, it works. Because neither of them are fighters, unless under the most of dire of circumstances; they're far more happy to help out with maintenance and cooking and other duties within the safe confines of the station.
And, Yamapi is looked upon by the leader, Johnny, as some one important. The old man grins when he meets Pi for the first time, shakes his hand firmly and stares into his eyes like he can read Yamapi's soul. He sees a leader, a man who understands what loyalty and trust and devotion are. Johnny is old and well-aware of his mortality, and makes no false hopes about living long enough to see the world righted, but looking at Yamashita gives him hope for a future he'll never see. Because, most importantly, he sees a leader, someone who has all the skills to lead once he's gone, and he's not about to let these bus boys run off into the hopeless dawn.
GROUP: NEWS (maybe some hinted pairings if you really squint
RATING: PG-ish
WORD COUNT: 10,509
SUMMARY: The world collapsed into hell, filled with ghouls and crazies, and Yamashita does what he can to protect his bus boys. Fuck yeah, zombie!AU fic.
Tegoshi hates having to drive the bus. Mostly because the first time he did, just days after being picked up, a crazy jumped out in front of the bus, screaming and dirty and mouth foaming like an animal.
But, Tegoshi's mind wasn't quite up-to-par with developments, and he was still somewhat in shock and denial over what had happened, and he fell back on his most primal instinct: to slam on the brakes when someone jumps in front of your car.
The bus screeched to a halt. Koyama, Shige and Pi were screaming at him ("What are you doing?!" "Fucking go!"). The crazy was clawing at the windows and inching closer the door, the last bit of his rational mind telling him where the bus' door was.
So, Tegoshi hauled ass on the gas and left the crazy alone in the road.
-
Shige likes to think his parents made it out of Japan safely.
Once the state of emergency had been called, every one flocked to Narita and Kansai airports, figuring that soon, Japan would be quarantined, and they would all be left to die with the ghouls and crazies.
Shige's father was lost first in the crowd, trying to find them tickets. But, no one wanted yen; it was already useless as a currency. He and his mother stood by that lamp post for hours, anxiously waiting for his father to reappear, but he didn't. And, his mother knew what the father would want them to do.
She dragged Shige through security (what of it was left). They didn't have tickets, but most people didn't anyways. They pushed and shoved to get through to the gates, and were pushed and shoved right back. In that, he lost his mother, their grip on each other's hands weakening until Shige was standing alone in the crowd.
He likes to think they made it out of Japan safely and are comfortably living in Los Angeles, or Auckland, or Vancouver.
They're not though.
Shige's father was trampled in the crowd, and his mother, in her despair, thinking she'd lost them both to the ghouls and crazies, flung herself from a cliff.
-
They live in an old city bus, the four of them together, driving around, never staying in one place too long because it's dangerous. Yamashita was the first one, then he found Koyama, after that Shige, and lastly Tegoshi. It's small enough not to eat through gas took quickly, which Yamashita takes a certain amount of relief in, since stopping for anything is inherently dangerous. Most of the windows are boarded up for safety, but the windshield and a few on the sides are open during day so the driver can see.
The back half of the seats were ripped out by Yamashita and Koyama long ago, and now, an air mattress lies back there, covered with blankets and pillows. They all sleep there, huddling together for warmth. Some of them sleep more than others. Yamashita never seems to have any trouble, but will wake at the tiniest sound. Shige and Koyama both have their fitful nights of little rest. Tegoshi doesn't usually sleep at night anyways, just lays curled up between two of the others, clutching Pi's or Koyama's shirt in his hands, trembling.
He says it's because he was a spoiled only child and can't get used to this. But, really, he's just afraid of the dark, now that there really are monsters out there that want to eat him.
-
Their food and water supplies are running low. Koyama delivers the bad news, and Pi swears, because it means either scavenging or finding a fort.
As they drive, they watch for abandoned homes, but they only find ones that have obviously been ransacked already, and Pi makes the decision to find a fort.
The people who man forts can be anything from altruistic clergymen to yakuza that will just as soon kill you and take all your things than trade. And, you never know which you're going to get when you stumble upon a fort.
The guys in the bus get the latter.
Outside of the gates, there's five or six heavily armed men, looking angry and ready to get violent.
"All of you, stay here," is all Pi says, before grabbing his rifle and exiting the bus.
The guards laugh maliciously at Pi and his modest rifle.
"We're hoping to do a little trading."
One of the guards, obviously the leader, steps forward. "What would you possibly have that our boss doesn't already have plenty of?"
"You got any women in that thing of yours?" One of the others asks, and they all perk up.
"No, just men. We have specialty dried fish and squid from the coast, where Yokohama used to be."
The guard leader considers this, snaps his fingers and one of the other guards ducks into the fort.
"We're mainly look for rice and water."
"Water is a precious commodity. It'll cost you."
"How much?"
"Whatever you've got that we want. Maybe more."
Pi frowns.
"I've got an AK-47 on my hip, brother. As it is, you should hope mostly just to leave these gates alive."
A guard comes out from inside and whispers something to the leader.
"We'll take the fish. And then, get the hell out of my sight."
"Our water-"
The leader cocks his gun, and says again, "The fish."
Pi cocks his rifle too and takes a firm step backwards. "Go fuck yourselves."
The guards don't take too kindly to that, and Pi even thinks that maybe he should have said something a little less provocative. Until, that is, a smoke bomb comes flying over his head, and he can't see more than an arm's length away.
Pi rushes back to the bus, jumping in just as Shige peels away from the fort.
"Why did you use one of the smoke bombs?! We don't have that many left!" Pi snaps.
"B-but." Koyama wrings his hand together, looking pale with worry.
Pi sighs, understanding what Koyama wants to say with just that one word.
-
For Yamashita, these bus boys are his family. They're all he's got now, and he'll do whatever it takes to keep them safe.
The disease came out of nowhere, like an earthquake. Virologists figured out early it was man-made, but they weren't able to get any further than that before the symptoms and mass infections began. The skin of the infected turned white, their veins showing prominently through their skin and it stretched over their bones like there wasn't enough of it. They went wild, tearing everything apart and devouring people.
Some people were naturally immune to the disease, and they were thankful for that, but it didn't stop the ghouls - the infected - from eating them alive, or the crazies - people who were unable to accept what was happening to society - from physically tearing them apart in their madness.
Pi was the only one of his family immune. He kept his mother and sister safe in their family home while he did all the scavenging and hunting. They were healthy and fine, sequestered inside, and while it wasn't a perfect existence, Pi figured everything would be fine for his family.
Until his mother and sister went crazy, ripping out their hair by hand and scratching deep cuts into their arms and faces. He tried to help them, but they were past the point of being helped and had gone completely mad with misery and rage and regret.
He couldn't help them, and he knew it, so he did the only thing he could for them - he killed them. Pulled out his rifle and shot them both, right between the eyes, so it would be quick for them. He buried them in the backyard, marked their graves simply, and then left his childhood home behind, walking and walking and walking until he found that bus and made it his new home and filled it with a new family.
-
Koyama can live with a smile, because he knows, for a fact, that his sister, brother-in-law and two nephews are safely in South Korea. He saw them off from the pier in Tokyo Bay. He stood as far out on the pier as he could, keeping a strong face and doing his damnedest not to cry, while his sister and nephews did from the railing of the ship.
He's okay with not having made it on the ship. The crowd had slowed him down, and by the time he'd gotten through, the ship had already pushed off from shore.
His mother had been lost to the disease, and all he had left was his sister and her family. And knowing they were safe was enough. He could live and die happily knowing they were alright.
Yamashita had found him, at that same pier, nearly two weeks later. The Koyama of then wasn't one made for scavenging and hunting, and he'd barely eaten anything since the boat pushed off the pier.
"The world is nothing, and I am alone. Is there really a point in trying?" Koyama had said, and the sadness and pain in his tone nearly broke Yamapi's heart. He knew that if he left this man, he'd be eaten alive, or turn into a crazy, and Pi didn't have it in him to see either happen. So, he had carefully led this stranger up into the bus, and they drove off together, and that was the beginning.
-
All the windows of the bus are boarded up, and Tegoshi is already bundled up among the blankets. Shige is over with him, mumbling quietly in a one-sided conversation. Koyama and Yamapi are in the front few seats, trying to act calm as they talk, so the younger two won't be worried.
"We have to find supplies now," Yamapi whispers, and Koyama nods, looking almost guilty.
"But, the forts around here either won't trade, or just want to take what we have left without compensation."
"Maybe Ryo will trade with us."
"Ryo," Koyama almost shrieks. "Him?! Are you out of your mind?"
"He still owes me one."
"You are aware of who he runs with, aren't you?"
Yamapi nods and internally makes the decision, because it's not like they have much of a choice anyways.
They turn off the little lamp and make their way back to the air mattress.
"Where are we going tomorrow?" Tegoshi asks, and Koyama clicks his tongue in annoyance.
"To visit an old acquaintance," Yamapi says.
Shige mumbles something about Koyama being a blanket-hog, and after that, they all quiet down, and at least pretend to get some sleep.
-
The only reason that Nishikido Ryo has lived to the ripe old age of 25, is because, once, Yamapi happened to be in the right place, at the right time, to shoot a crazy in the back of the head before it took a bite out of Ryo's face.
He wasn't happy about the blood and gore splatter across his clothes, but after being that close to a crazy, he was mostly just relieved to have his face intact.
"We have to get out of here," Pi had said, jogging up to him. "The noise will attract others."
"I know, I know," Ryo had whined, wiping blood off his face.
They hid out for hours in a former restaurant's cellar, the door thick and safely closed.
"We should probably spend the night in here," Ryo whispered, and Pi guiltily nodded, knowing that it would make Koyama worry.
"I'm Ryo, by the way."
"Yamashita."
It was a long night, neither fully trusting the other, and the moment they thought the sun had risen and it was safe, they slowly moved the door, and spent several long minutes listening for crazies and ghouls before moving out of the building. They said a simple goodbye and moved in opposite directions.
When he got back to the bus, he could tell Koyama had been crying, and hadn't sleep at all.
"I was so worried," he croaked. "I thought you weren't coming back."
"I'm sorry," Yamapi said, rubbing Koyama's arm, trying to soothe him. "It got late, and you know how dangerous it is to move around at night."
Koyama nodded, and Pi slide into the driver's seat.
It was only a few days later that Pi and Koyama ran into Ryo.
They were driving along, minding their own business, when a man wearing a mask stepped into the road far in front of them, and just stood there, stock still. Pi slowed, concerned, because no crazy or ghoul would ever be so still.
"Just go around him," Koyama had said. "This isn't normal."
It wasn't, and neither were the three bullets that pingged loudly against the frame of the bus, right above the windshield.
"Drive," Koyama yelled, but by then, it was too late; concrete barriers, long ago placed in the road to control traffic, forced the bus around a corner, and there, piled high, debris blocked the road, and Pi had no choice but to slam on the brakes before the bus hit the pile. The door was ripped open, and he barely saw Koyama being pulled out the door, screaming.
Pi was next, two taller men grabbed him out of the seat and through the door of the bus, pushing him down onto the concrete outside. A few meters away, he could see where two more were holding down Koyama.
"Sack it," some one from on top of Pi said, and three others moved towards the bus.
Koyama started screaming, and Yamapi nearly did too, until he recognized one of the three.
"Ryo?" Pi shouted, trying to be heard over Koyama, "Ryo, that's you, isn't it?! Let us go!"
All seven of the men freeze, and when the three near the bus turn, Pi knew it was Ryo.
"This is the thanks I get for saving your life?!"
Even Koyama shut up then, and every one is very quiet, until a thin man near Ryo asked, "Is that true?"
Ryo looked like he might try to deny it, but after a long moment nodded.
A few of them sigh, like as much as they believe in eat-or-be-eaten, they still held onto some of their pride as men and human beings.
"Get off them," the thin man said, pinching the bridge of his nose.
Koyama and Pi scrambled up, moving close to each other.
The man with the mask, the one who'd been in the road stepped forward. "Subaru, you know how much-"
"If he saved Ryo, it's not right to just steal it and leave them for dead."
The thin man - Subaru - moved away from the bus, and Ryo and the others followed him. The seven of them started disappearing into the streets and alleys, and something tugged at Yamapi.
"What were you after?"
"Gasoline," Ryo said, quietly as he passed by them. "Staying moving... is the best way to stay alive."
Yamapi and Koyama stood together, watching them leave, and Pi felt completely beside himself when he offered them a few gallons.
Koyama screamed at him, and Subaru looked cautious, like there had to be something else going on.
"Anything more and we'd be at risk. But, a few gallons we could part with and be okay."
Yamapi went up into the bus and came out with a three gallon gasoline jerry can.
"It's not totally full, but it'll get you somewhere."
The seven men who had stopped and tried to rob Koyama and Pi stood around awkwardly, like they were embarrassed by their actions and Pi's generousity.
"Are you serious?" Ryo asked, and Pi nodded.
He stepped forward, gingerly taking the can.
"If we abandon our fellow man in times like these, then we're no better than the crazies and ghouls."
Pi backed away, and motioned for Koyama to get in the bus.
-
Since then, the bus boys have occasionally run into Ryo and his compatriots, who refer to themselves as 'The 8Uppers', the most recent at a formerly abandoned fort that they'd cleaned out of crazies and ghouls and made their own.
With the exception of Koyama, they're cautious, but not unduly cold towards The 8Uppers. Koyama, for his part, can barely stand to look at them, his opinion of the group permanently colored by his first impression of them. If they happen to meet, he stays in the bus, seated in the driver's seat with a loaded shotgun in his hands. The idea that they should purposefully go to The 8Uppers' fort is disgusting, but Yamapi is the leader of their group, and Koyama knows once the decision has been made, it's written in stone.
-
Shige, for a long time, was utterly alone. Torn away from his parents and without any way to contact others, he sequestered himself in an old Buddhist temple. He spent all day reading ancient tomes and philosophical musing and hiding, alone and terrified, when he'd hear the sounds of crazies and ghouls. He spent weeks there, eating sparsely from the preserves the monks left behind and drinking from a well he was pretty sure they'd marked as holy.
The longer he sat there without another soul, reading deep concepts on what it meant to be alive, the more he thought that he would succumb to his loneliness and turn into a crazy, even though he really didn't want to. There was nothing left of the world, and he figured it was just a matter of time.
One day, sitting by a little fire, reading, he heard the outer doors of the temple ripped open. Shige dropped the papers, and scrambled for his hiding place under the floorboards. But, the varnished, heavy piece of floor wouldn't move this time, what with Shige's hands having been especially sweaty -- because the crazies had never bothered to actually enter the temple buildings before, just scream and crawl around the outside. The sound of doors opening got louder and louder, and Shige could feel his eyes watering. It was one thing to slowly turn into a crazy, but another thing entirely to be devoured by one. The set of doors to the room he was in opened, loudly, and Shige could hear the wood splintering as it hit the far end of the sliding path on the floor. Shige howled in misery, like he'd already been biten and clawed at the floor, like he still might have been able to find salvation under the floorboards.
He was pulled away from the floor by steady hands and when he actually bothered to look into the face of his doom, it was just a normal man, with none of the features of a ghoul or crazy. Shige stilled and was quiet, like in shock.
"It's just me," the man said, like it should have been reassuring to Shige. "Are you alone here?"
Shige nodded, his eyes wide.
"Do you know anything about medicine?"
Shige nodded again; the monks had left a large store of medicinal herbs and notebooks filled with treatment and cure how-to's that he'd read.
"My friend -- he's ill. Please, help him."
Shige let himself be led out of the temple grounds, the first time in more days and weeks than he could remember. He was weary of being somewhere unfamiliar, and so unprotected, out in the open. He was led to a dirty bus, with 'Tokyo Metro' and the Suica penguin painted on the side, where the man took Shige to the back, where there was another, curled up, shaking and sweating.
With something to focus on, Shige calmed and slowly looked him over, taking his pulse and trying to judge his temperature.
"It's a fever. I think. A bad one."
"Tell me where the herbs are. You can stay here, and I'll go get them."
"Past the room where you found me, there is a hallway. Second room on the left. There's a cabinet. Bring the Radish syrup, Calendula petals and Lemon Balm leaves."
Shige stayed camped in the bus with the two men - Yamapi and Koyama - for two days, until Koyama's fever broke, and he looked up at Shige, deliriously, and Yamapi just sighed in relief.
"Are you coming with us?" Koyama asked, completely innocently, a few more days later when he was back in good health.
Shige looked a little shocked, like he didn't think they would allow it, and turned between Koyama and Yamapi a few times. "... Can I?"
"Of course," Pi answered. "You practically saved Koyama."
Shige felt his throat tighten up, and that night, before they all fell sleep, Koyama mumbled into Shige's shoulder that he thought their finding Shige was like fate.
In the morning, they cleared out the temple of all the food preserves and medicinal herbs, filled up their water jugs and Shige left that place behind, along with his worries about becoming a crazy.
-
When they pull up to The 8Uppers fort, Koyama slouches in his bench seat, gripping his shotgun so tightly that his knuckles are white. Someone looks down from the other side of the wall of the fort, and a moment later, the doors are opening, and Yamapi slowly pulls the bus in, and the doors are closed behind them.
"I'm staying here," Koyama says, voice grim.
Pi nods; he didn't need to be told that.
"Tegoshi, why don't you come with me this time?" Pi asks, and from the back of the bus, Tegoshi's face lights up.
"Really?!"
Yamapi just beckons Tegoshi with his hands and steps out of the bus, and their youngest member follows him out dutifully. He could have asked Shige, but Pi knows that Koyama trusts Shige a lot. Maybe even more than he trusts Yamapi, and Koyama will feel safer with Shige waiting in the bus with him.
Yokoyama and Maruyama, the two who must have been on guard, are gentlemanly enough not to greet Yamapi and Tegoshi with their guns.
"What brings you 'round here?" Yokoyama asks, in a friendly tone, but Pi knows better than to think he's being friendly.
"The forts all around are going crazy."
"How so?"
"Acting like hoarding is the best method. Like they can make it if they reject everyone else and abandon their humanity for the sake of survival."
Maruyama and Yokoyama laugh.
"Go on in and talk with Hina and Subaru," Maruyama says, giving Tegoshi a pat on the shoulder as they walk by. "Me and Yoko don't have the attention span for such serious sounding talk."
Tegoshi and Yamapi disappear into the building, and Koyama swears in his seat, watching through the windshield.
"I really hate having to come here," he mumbles, body tense.
"It'll be fine," Shige whispers, leaning over the seat to pat Koyama on the back. "They still owe us a lot."
Koyama grumbles.
"Reciprocity debt, and all," Shige adds.
-
"The forts are turning mad," Yamapi says; Hina and Subaru nods their heads in agreement.
"It's because they're finally realizing this isn't a short-term problem. That the crazies and ghouls aren't going to just disappear."
"And, that no one is coming to our rescue."
"A diseased little island, huh?" Pi asks, laughing almost sarcastically.
"You look exhausted, and it'll take us a few days to get everything together for you guys," Hina says, standing. "Stay here, and get some quality rest for once."
Hina and Subaru leave. Tegoshi is still sitting in the corner, looking a little worried, with Ryo and Pi at a scuffed table in the center of the room.
"We have room. Just stay here with us," Ryo says, scratching at the table.
"We couldn't."
"There's plenty of space, and it's safer here."
Pi shakes his head. "Koyama is sitting in the bus, holding his shotgun. He won't like the fact that we'll be here for a few days as it is."
"I don't see how you guys can stand to be so transient. I hated living like that."
-
Koyama does hate the news that they'd be staying with The 8Uppers for a few days. Even looked willing to waste some buck shot on shooting at something to alleviate the stress.
"I'm sorry, Koyama, but we don't have much choice."
"You really think this is a good idea? You really think any of us can afford to sleep inside the walls of this fort?"
"Kei-chan, relax," Tegoshi whines.
"I'm not sleeping," Koyama says, frowning, still holding his shotgun.
And, he doesn't. At least, not at night. Tegoshi sleeps in the fort, feeling safer there, and Yamapi and Shige curl up on the air mattress, while Koyama stands guard, catching up on his own sleep during the daylight hours.
-
The filled water barrels stashed in the undercarriage, and rations stuffed among the seats is a welcomed sight; once everything is put away, Koyama asks when they can leave.
Pi says soon, and Koyama steps back into the bus, waiting.
Tegoshi is standing off to the side, talking with Yasuda, wringing his hands in his shirt and looking a tad lost. Shige calls for him, but Tegoshi doesn't move.
Shige calls him again, and Pi just watches; Tegoshi's stiff shoulders, teeth gnawing at his lips, and eyes terrified. Yasuda looks sympathetic, his eyes soft.
"Ryo-chan," Pi says, "do you think it would be alright to let Tegoshi stay here and rest a little longer?"
Ryo turns to look at the boy too, and locks eyes with Yasuda, who gives Ryo a firm stare.
"Yes," he replies, quietly. "It would be fine."
It's always obvious when someone's terror has exhausted them.
-
Tegoshi had been locked in a footlocker for three whole days when the others had found him.
His parents had put him there, crying as they shoved him in alone, when they'd heard the crazies coming and knew there wasn't enough time to get away. Tegoshi was trapped in complete darkness, while he heard them rip his parents apart, and then for days after, trembling and crying, figuring he'd die soon enough anyways.
On the third day, he heard people talking, but through the metal and leather, he couldn't hear what they were saying. It didn't sound like the meaningless murmuring of ghouls, or screaming of crazies, and Tegoshi dared to hope that maybe a footlocker wouldn't be his tomb.
He heard the lock pop open, and the top slowly open, and a man with single eyelids, framed by blinding sunlight, looked down at him sympathetically.
"Are you alright?"
Tegoshi just started crying again, hands balled up into fists, pressing into his eyes.
He was helped up and out, too scared to look past his hands. When they got him into the bus, he curled up on the air mattress, wrapped in blankets, and kept crying until he fell asleep.
-
They head out towards the coast, practically in a beeline. They're all hoping to catch some fish, and add to their rations, or gain something worth bartering.
Koyama wasn't happy about leaving Tegoshi with Ryo and others, practically threw a fit and tried to drag Tegoshi into the bus himself. The only thing that stopped him was Shige, firm and logical, to his side, and Yasuda's gentle tones about what would be best for Tegoshi. Leaving their youngest behind with people he less-than-trusted was no easy thing for Koyama, and for days, when not driving, he would sit in the back of the bus, visibly stressed and worried.
"Tegoshi will be fine," Shige and Pi both tell him. "You know how much trouble he's had since we found him. He needs this to feel safe again."
Koyama would nod, and act like he's agreeing, but the other two know him well enough to know he's faking it.
-
They camp out by a pier in Chiba for several days.
In the mornings, Koyama and Pi watch Shige fish, laying out a generally modest catch. In the afternoons, they attempt to scavenge what they can, but there's usually not much. Everything has been thoroughly picked over by other survivors.
Normally, they'd be able move at a fast pace, splitting into teams of two. But, they're odd-numbered now, just the three of them. And, even if Pi is an amazing shot, able to hit anything, regardless of the distance, and Koyama can run forever, like the wind, and Shige is careful and logical, never doing anything stupid or dangerous, it is an unspoken agreement that no one is ever alone. They travel and do everything in a group, when before it would be Tegoshi and Shige at the pier, while Koyama and Pi poked around for whatever they could find.
At night, they curl up on the mattress, it feeling impossibly large without their fourth. Koyama doesn't sleep much, and Shige can't either, because he's in tune with Koyama like that. Pi does, but it's fitful, and not restful.
-
They're in a sleepy, old, sea-side community. And, even in death, there's nothing happening here.
Most of the time.
On the third day, a man comes rolling up on a bike, stopping just a few meters from their circle around a small fire. Koyama and Pi reach for their guns, and Shige moves behind them, in a defensive position.
"Hello," the mans says, cheerfully, like they're not living in hell on Earth.
"What do you want?" Pi asks, tone short.
The man blinks, taken aback. "I just... I haven't seen anyone other than ghouls or crazies in a while."
Koyama scoffs. "You really think we're so stupid that we'd fall for that? Where are your comrades? Are they coming from behind?" Koyama turns, checking their back, and Shige looks stressed with the barrel of Koyama's shotgun pointing so close to his general direction.
The man on the bike looks down at his feet, and in a devastated, heart-broken voice says, "I lost them."
Koyama is still scanning around their back, but Pi lowers his gun. "... Come. Sit."
"Yamashita!" Koyama snaps. "You're mad!"
But, when he gets a good look at the stranger's face, and sees the blatant joy and gratitude there, Koyama can't really find it in himself to stay upset.
-
The man's name is Massu, was born in this town 24 years prior, and in the last year watched it fall to pieces, the citizens turning to ghouls and crazies, until he was the last person left in their right mind and body.
He's made his new home in the vault of the town's bank, behind it's thick, locking door.
"I come out every few days to check the traps I've left for rabbits and such," he says. "I saw you from the far end of the beach, and came right over."
"Isn't it lonely here? Alone?"
Massu is still, then nods. "I've always been a scaredy cat, though."
Pi can both tell from both Koyama and Shige's eyes that they want to invite this stranger with them. Those two know the pain of loneliness well, and are empathetic to it.
"We were planning to stay around here for a few days before moving on. At the least, we can give you some company for the time being," Pi murmurs, pouring himself another cup of tea.
Massu looks grateful, just for that, and Koyama and Shige look somewhat appeased.
-
Even though Pi's new family is made entirely of people who were once strangers, he is still inherently weary of unknown persons, still. The four of them found their way together, and he's fine with the way things are; they don't need a fifth.
But, with how friendly Koyama is once he warms up to someone, and Shige with his big heart, Pi knows it will tear them to pieces to leave Massu behind once they leave. Pi is hesitant to bring him along, but Koyama and Shige are already so attached after only a few days. Pi doesn't tell them when they're leaving, but those two can read Pi well enough to know.
That night, once Massu is safely back in his vault, and the boys in their bus, they talk.
"You know Tegoshi won't mind. Massu'll just be one more person for him to wrap around his pinky finger."
Pi grumbles.
"He acts like he's fine," Shige whispers. "But, if we leave him, it's only a matter of time until he turns into a crazy."
No one comments on Shige's unspoken, "like I would have."
"It's in these times especially that we can't abandon our fellow man," Koyama says.
Pi frowns, and snaps, "I know."
"Then, why don't you want to bring him along?"
"Because, we don't need him. He'll just be one more mouth to feed, and you know we already have enough problems with the four of us."
"It doesn't feel right," Shige murmurs, and Pi considers pulling rank.
-
Pi wants to leave town like they arrived -- quietly. But, Koyama nearly throws a hissy fit, and makes him wait until nearly 10am, when Massu normally shows up to hang out for the day. Pi doesn't even leave the bus when Shige and Koyama exit to say their goodbyes.
"I'm sorry you had to come all the this way just to hear this," Koyama says sadly.
"If we're firm together, maybe Yamashita will change his mind," Shige whispers, but doesn't look hopeful.
Massu smiles. "I'm okay here. Just swing by every so often and visit me. That's enough." Shige nearly interjects, but he's cut off by Massu. "Really. I've been doing fine for this long, haven't I?"
Koyama frets at his bottom lip, and Shige hugs him tight for a moment before they get back on the bus, and leave Massu standing in the road alone.
-
But, when they get back to The 8Uppers fort, things are not well.
There are scorch marks and burns -- like those from a grenade -- on the outside walls, and when Pi calls over the side, the man who replies is wholly unfamiliar.
"Where is Shibutani? Murakami?" Pi shouts, and the guard scoffs, not answering.
"Are you sure this is the right one?" Koyama asks, and Shige answers before he can.
"The 8Uppers took over an abandoned Jesuit fort; hadn't you noticed? Now, look up there. You can still see where the crosses and such were painted, though they've worn off a bit without the upkeep."
Koyama pales. "Where is Tegoshi?"
No one answers.
"This is why I didn't want to leave him with those people," Koyama moans, like he's in pain and curls into an awkwardly shaped ball on his seat.
-
"They must have been run out," Pi says that night, after the bus is hidden in the undergrowth of a forest, and the three of them are curled up under the blankets of the air mattress.
"But, for The 8Uppers to have been run out... They're no weak fighters."
Koyama trembles.
Pi watches as Shige rolls over to rub soft circles over Koyama's back.
"If anyone could survive out in these wilds, it's The 8Uppers. Where ever they are, they have Tegoshi. And, he's fine."
-
While Pi considered The 8Uppers allies in a hostile world, maybe even friendly acquaintances, they didn't share much in the way of information. Pi had no idea of knowing if they had somewhere else safe they might head towards, or a second, hidden fort, or an old, converted bunker, like were so popular in the early days of the shitfest that Japan turned into.
Asking around the other forts doesn't produce much in the way of leads either. Information, like all things, comes at a price, and Pi wasn't at all willing to part with their rations or stock. And, after one especially seedy fort offered to trade something about The 8Uppers' Maruyama and Ohkura for Koyama, Pi stopped asking forts altogether, opting to park the bus in an old garage and spend a few days forming a real plan.
Pi mulls and sits alone in the back of the bus, thinking and always asking to be alone for days. Koyama and Shige go out on short, quiet, careful scavenging hunts, checking over the nearby grounds for anything of value that might have been overlooked. Urban environments are dangerous -- there are lots of places for crazies and ghouls and human traffickers to hide out and surprise you -- but, Koyama and Shige know that, and Pi knows they'll be careful.
On the third day, just before the sun sets, about the time Pi actually started getting a bit frantic about their prolonged absence, they come rushing back, out of breath, looking pale. Koyama's hands are shaking, and Shige has a bloody, metal pipe in his hands.
Pi doesn't ask who attacked them. He doesn't like traveling at night (it draws far too much attention), but he also knows it's not safe to stay here when the pair could have been followed. He drives without the lights, using just the last traces of sunlight to find a new place, while Shige and Koyama board up the windows.
An old storm drainage system becomes their new safeguard for the night. Koyama and Shige clean themselves up as much as possible before climbing in bed, still jittery, and cling to each other before they fall into a shallow sleep.
Pi is still in the driver's seat, thinking, growing ever more concerned for their lost fourth.
-
In the morning, once Koyama and Shige have awoken, bags under their eyes and jumping at even the least consequential of noises, Pi surprises them.
"We're going back to get Massu," he says, voice absolute.
"What changed your mind?"
"We've lost Tegoshi and The 8Uppers." Pi pinches the bridge of his nose, like he's exhausted. "And, I don't want this same thing to happen someday with Massu."
Koyama and Shige don't argue with him, just sit behind the driver's wheel and stare blankly out the window.
When they arrive, Massu looks down at them from the roof of the bank, a curious look on his face.
"I didn't except you back so soon," he says, smiling, obviously happy about it.
Pi waves out the window, and turns to Koyama and Shige behind him. "Go in. Get him out."
-
Koyama tells Massu everything, his voice frantic the whole time.
About The 8Uppers, and why he doesn't like them. About leaving their fourth to rest a bit, about them getting run out of the fort, about how no one will tell them anything and they can't find him. About the nights spent in the garage and scavenging in the city, about the ghouls and crazies that jumped out of every crevice, about the blood splatters along walls and asphalt roads. About Pi not wanting them to come back one day to find Massu inexplicably gone.
"It would kill us," Shige whispers, holding onto Koyama by the arm. "Just- Let's go get your things, and come with us."
Massu looks on sadly, like he's torn and sympathetic.
"It feels right for you to come with us," Koyama adds.
"Okay," Massu finally says. "Okay."
Shige's bottom lip quivers, and Koyama holds onto his chest, taking deep breaths.
Massu doesn't have much; a few days worth of rations, a broken shortwave radio, some nice wool blankets, a wooden block puzzle thing. Nothing that would take up much room. They pack his things up, and get the hell out of town.
It's a tad bit awkward that night, when Yamapi collapses into bed, tired from a day of driving, and Massu asks where the rest of them are going to sleep.
"In bed. Where else would we?" Koyama replies.
Massu flushes and stammers on his words, "B-but, four guys? In-- in one bed. That's-"
"The safest thing," Shige says, pushing Massu gently towards the back of the bus. "You can sleep at the edge if it'll make you more comfortable."
It takes their newest addition a few days to get used to it, and even after that, he always takes the one far side, usually with Shige sleeping on his other side. No one complains about it; they all have their weird little quirks.
-
"What now?" Koyama asks Pi, one afternoon when they're out scavenging, picking through an abandoned barn.
Pi is silent for a long moment, until he says, "... I think we should head towards the Kokkai -- the Diet."
Koyama drops a daikon in his shock and has to refrain from shouting. "The Diet?!" He hisses. "What the hell do you think they'd be able to do?! That's the absolute last fort we should ask about Tegoshi!"
"I know they're fakes," Pi mutters, stuffing a few carrots into his bag. "Not even politicians or public servants anymore, just bullies and cowards. But, for an unarmed group, the surrounding areas are pretty safe."
"The 8Uppers won't be unarmed."
"Considering they were run out of their fort, they may very well be at this point. They have no way of getting out of the city, so the only logical decision would to be towards the safest area in the city."
"The Diet," Koyama whimpers. "We'll be lucky to leave that neighborhood with our heads."
Shige isn't thrilled about the idea either when they get back.
"What's left of the SDF shoots first and asks later. Doesn't even bothering to find out if it's a crazy, or a ghoul, or some poor bastard that's managed to survive through this."
"I agree with Shige," Koyama says, pleadingly. "They won't help us anyways."
"We don't have that many options on who to ask."
"Um." Massu looks up from peeling vegetables. "What's wrong with the Diet?"
The three are silent, until Koyama whispers, "I guess the news didn't get out to you before everything fell."
"It's what's left of the Diet, its members -- or, so they say they are -- and the SDF," Shige continues. "The Diet hides in the building -- it's practically impenetrable -- carrying on passing laws and such like nothing's happened. And, the SDF is their personal military, plundering and taking what they will from people in what they call the greater good."
Massu turns to Yamapi. "And, we're going there?"
Pi frowns. "Don't turn him against my ideas so quickly. It's like I told Koyama -- the grounds around it are safe, and I think we should check it out. If you don't want to come, we can go back to the bank vault. I'll leave you all there while I go check it out alone."
Koyama pales, and dives forward, grabbing Pi around the arm. "No. No. You will not go alone. We have rules. It's how we've survived."
"Koyama is right." Shige says, oddly firm, even for him. "We said it was a bad idea; not that we would make you go into that hell on your own."
-
Showing up in Nihonbashi in their bus would have been something stupid beyond belief. The SDF would have ransacked it, and left the boys for dead. They leave it amongst overgrowth in a park on the far side of the Imperial Palace and walk from there.
It's been a long time for Koyama, Pi and Shige to be this deep into the city. But, they are still well aware of its dangers -- the roads are narrow and don't follow a grid, there are plenty of places to hide, and it's easy to be trapped and caught, especially among the overturned cars and blockades that still litter the streets. Massu's baseball bat is tight in his hands; he's never been this far into Tokyo, even before the outbreak. Every little noise puts him on edge, and he hangs close to the others. They move quickly, stopping for nothing; not the cars still loaded with goods that they could take, not the scream they hear a mile or so off. They have a goal -- the Diet and Tegoshi -- and nothing they see or hear gives them pause.
Just as the Diet building comes into their view, they run into a manned blockade, garrisoned with emotionless, brutal guards. Pi doesn't want to give them any reason to think the boys are anything but fully-function, normal people.
"Hello?" He calls out, placing his rifle on the ground, and raising his hands in the air, showing that he's unarmed. The others follow suit. "Anyone there?"
There's some hollering from the blockade. "This the Diet's ground! You'd best leave, boy!"
"I have business around these grounds."
There's a shocked yell, and a bulky fellow jumps over the sandbags and stalks towards Pi. "What did you say?!"
"I'm looking for someone," Pi continues, voice steady.
"You think I give a damn?"
"No."
The man laughs. "At least you understand the situation. And, why do you think I'd tell you anything about who meanders around the Diet?"
"I have some news you might be interested in."
There are jeering calls from the blockade. "What could a strangler tell me that our elite scouts couldn't?"
"This comes from the far west side of the city. A couple days drive. Do your scouts get that far?"
The man frowns.
Pi smirks, but not enough for the soldier to notice, what with the distance between them and lowers his arms. "You've lost some grenades recently, haven't you?"
The man stiffens, and the air falls dead, heavy, silent.
"Or, more likely, they were taken. That couldn't have been a proud moment for you all."
"Get on with it!" The man snaps.
"I know a group who has, at the least, some of them. I saw the scorch marks myself on the outer wall of a fort that they now hold. Give me a map, and I'll show you right where they are."
The man regards Pi, and then asks, rather calmly, "What is it that you want?"
"Do you happen to know about The 8Uppers? Or, are there new people around the Diet, taking advantage of the safer grounds?"
The guard turns, and Koyama makes a weak squeaking sound. Pi doesn't move, and with a simple hand gesture, keeps the others still as well. The lead guard -- or, at least he acts like he is -- doesn't come back for nearly an hour, but when he does, he's got a pen and a map. He throws them at Pi's feet, who doesn't waste time unfolding it and marking where The 8Uppers old fort is, where the new occupants are obviously in possession of stolen SDF hand grenades and tosses it back.
"None of my men have heard of these '8Uppers,' but there's a new street group on the other side of Sotobori that joined up with a local one. Rather firm and determined to hold onto their lands and keep them clean, from what I've been told. Apparently, they came out of nowhere one day and were mighty enough to bring other street gangs under their fold. They don't look too threatening, but damn those kids know how to survive."
"I see. I'm glad we could work something out."
And, just as carefully as they entered the area, the boys leave the intersection with the blockade, making their way through the streets back to the bus.
Massu is the one, though, who voices all their fears. "Can we make it back to the bus before nightfall?"
No one answers. Because none of them want to think about what it would mean to not make it back.
"We should have left Shige and Massu with the bus," Koyama hisses to Pi, who's just in front of him. "They're no good in a fight, or a run."
"They're strong enough to take care of themselves," Pi whispers, and picks up his pace.
Koyama turns and eyes the other two worryingly.
Nightfall comes earlier in the city, what with all the old skyscrapers blocking out the sun far before it actually drops below the horizon. Which means that crazy and ghouls, favoring the cool night air, are more active and more aggressive. A ghoul stumbles around a corner, and Pi doesn't hesitate in the least before he puts a bullet in its head.
"We're running from here," Pi says, setting the pace yet again.
Koyama drops back, behind Shige and Massu.
"What are you doing?" Shige snaps, and Koyama replies, "I'm not letting either of you fall behind."
Massu trembles at those words and thinks about how he'd always been better at sprints.
-
The ghouls, in the grand scope of things, aren't too bad. They're slow and easy enough to overpower when they're in small numbers, so it's only really a person's bad luck that gets them trapped by a group where there's no way of fighting your way out. Crazies though are faster; they can't run as fast a normal person, but they don't seem to put much worry into exhaustion, and just keep running and running and running, until you can't run anymore, and then, they're on you, ripping into your skin.
By now, the sun is well past the horizon, and all that's lighting the way is the moon, mockingly half-full. There's a trail of ghouls and crazies behind them -- far more than they could ever hope to fight off -- and the bus is still a good kilometer away. Pi continues to lead the way with Koyama in the back, holding back tears, because the longer he pushes Shige and Massu on, and the longer he hears the moans of ghouls and screams of crazies right behind him, he worries if these two will make if. If they stumble and fall, there's no time to get up; a crazy would be on top of them. And, there would be no turning around with a merciful bullet to the head of a friend. That would be your own death sentence; you'd have to leave them there, to be devoured alive.
Koyama just prays to every God he can think of to grant, in what little mercy he must have, these two the strength to make it.
The noise they make draws more ghouls and crazies out of the side streets, threatening to break their formation.
"We can't slow down!" Pi yells behind him.
Just ahead of them, there's a glint of moonlight off metal and windshield. Pi dashes ahead of them, running full tilt into the body of the bus, scrambling with the latch of the door. A ghoul groans next to him, but he can barely take notice of it before Massu is next to him, slamming his baseball bat down on its head, a sickening crack-sound going through the air before the ghoul falls. Pi pushes Massu onto the bus, practically throws Shige and Koyama up once they're within arms length, and dives in himself, the door clicking shut behind him.
Koyama is hysterical, Shige is throwing up into an empty bucket, and Massu is trying to get the bus' key into the ignition so they can get the hell out of there. It seems to take forever for the bus to roar to life, for Massu to keep his sweaty hand from slipping on the gear shift and for them to push through the horde of ghouls and crazies and leave that hell of a park behind them.
-
After a couple of hours, when their trail of non-people is gone, they find an old auto repair shop, and shut the gate behind them, giving themselves an added layer of protection.
Pi turns to his boys and takes stock. Shige still looks ill, Koyama's eyes are red, and there might be tear-tracks on his face, and Massu looks fairly traumatized.
"We need to make sure," Pi whispers, and starts taking off layers.
"What?" Massu asks, voice small.
"We have to make sure none of us were scratched," Shige explains, and follows suit.
It takes Koyama a bit longer to strip and look himself over. He does it like he hates this whole thing, like finding a bloody mark on one of them would be too much to bear. Shige and Pi check themselves over, examining every square inch of their own skin, and collapse into seats when there's nothing. But, that's not enough for Koyama. First Shige, and then Pi, he drags them back up, and looks them over himself, pressing his fingers into their skin to make sure it's still warm and wholly human; he has to see and be sure with his own hands and eyes.
When he finds them unblemished too, he collapses in a similar manner and pokes at Massu. "Your turn."
It seems odd to him; he'd know if he'd been scratched or bitten, but in a world like hell, sometimes that's not enough. Koyama checks him over in the same manner, thorough and complete, and it feels weird to Massu to have another person -- let alone a guy -- this close, nearly-naked, after so long of having been alone. He can feel Koyama trembling behind him, sweeping fingers over skin and turning limbs this way and that to be absolutely sure.
"We're all fine," Koyama chokes out, and Shige rubs his back.
"Rest as much as you can tonight," Pi says, putting some of his clothes back on. "Tomorrow, we're heading to Sotobori."
If Pi thinks any of them would be able to actually sleep that night, he's delusional, but none of them say it.
-
Sotobori isn't hard to find, and it isn't hard to get into the surrounding neighborhood. What is difficult, is finding the people therein.
For the streets to be so clean of walking ghouls and running crazies, and instead littered with their fallen bodies means that there are proper people active here, protecting their streets and a defined perimeter. But, there is no other sign of them; no blockade, no patrolmen, no gunners from the rooftops shouting down at them. It's odd and a little off-putting, because this place isn't functioning like normal.
"Maybe they've moved on?" Koyama asks, and Pi shakes his head.
"Ghouls and crazies would have moved back in. There is a constant, stable force here doing this work."
"Then why don't they come out?" Massu murmurs, stepping over the arm of a ghoul.
"They have no reason to. We're strangers in their territory; they have no stake in our safe passage," Shige says, louder than is normal in this sort of environment, because he's pulling up the rear of their walking formation.
"They're watching," Yamapi sighs. "They know we're here and are waiting to see what we do."
They keep moving, passing fallen ghoul after crazy after ghoul, with the only movement and sound their own. Simple things like branches swaying in the wind set off Koyama and Massu's worrying, and a dog digging through garbage surprises Yamapi.
They pass a ghoul, face down in the road, and don't give it a second thought.
Until Shige calls out a tense, wavering, "G-guys-"
They turn and nearly drop their weapons in surprise.
There's a man, dressed and looking like a ghoul, but his eyes say everything -- they're clear and sane. He has Shige in a hold and a gun to his head.
"S-Shige!" Koyama whimpers, and takes a step forward, but the ghoul-dressed man just presses the muzzle harder against Shige's head.
"What are you doing in Sotobori?" He asks, voice hoarse, like he hasn't spoken in days.
Koyama weakly latches onto Massu, and turns to Pi with pleading eyes.
"We're looking for someone, that's all," Pi says, trying to look as harmless as possible. "If they're not here, we'll leave right away."
"Who?"
"The 8Uppers, and a young man named Tegoshi. We heard some new people had moved into Sotobori and thought..."
"I don't know The 8Uppers, but our leaders refer to themselves by a word with 'eight' in it as well."
"Where are these leaders?"
The man laughs. "Like I have the authority to say. If the street boss likes you, maybe he'll tell."
"And, he is?"
There's a commotion to the side, just above the sidewalk; a few men jump out of a second story window, and carefully march towards Yamapi.
"Right here," the one says, and Pi can only assume he's the street boss.
"I have to find my missing friends. They're not stupid enough to get killed."
"You mentioned a Tegoshi. That wouldn't happen to make you Yamashita, would it?"
Koyama gasps and gets this stupidly happy looking, blurting out, "yes," before Yamapi can.
The street boss waves his hand, and the man behind Shige backs off. Shige bolts forward, planting himself between Koyama and Massu, frowning.
"Keep following this road until you reach Akasaka Station, and follow the Chiyoda line's tracks south to Nogizaka Station. But, before you start walking along the tracks, shout 'vision without action is a daydream' down the tunnel, so the others will know it's safe for you to pass."
Yamapi takes a deep breath, feeling like all this work and worry will finally end in Nogizaka. "Thank you."
"Just get out of my sector," the street boss, turning back towards the building where he'd been hold up.
-
They follow his instructions to the letter.
Jumping down onto the subway tracks had felt a little weird, especially since there was so little light -- just a few last back-up bulbs hanging from the roof of the tunnel. There's barely enough light to see, and all the four of them trip often; over rocks and the tracks and whatever else is littering the ground there.
Even though the street boss had said the tunnel was guarded, there's no sign of people, and not even of ghouls and crazies. The dark calm is unsettling, because it's something they haven't known for so long.
As the light from Nogizaka Station comes into view, they see their first person; a silhouette of a man, standing far off, but there's no outline of a weapon, and they all wonder what the hell kind of a sentry this person is.
And, once they get closer, they realize, he's not a sentry at all -- is just there to greet them, smiling with crinkles next to his eyes.
Yamapi trembles when he sees the man's face, and for once, drops his rifle, and breaks into a sprint, nearly tackling him to the ground.
"Ryo-chan," Pi whimpers, voice cracking, his whole body shaking uncontrollably.
"Wha- Dude, calm down!"
The others catch up, Koyama carrying Pi's rifle, and look at Ryo with equal levels of disbelief.
"I can't believe you guys followed us this far," Ryo says, smiling.
"Where is Tegoshi?" Shige and Koyama asks, at the same time, in perfect tandem.
Ryo just tells them to follow him.
Massu trails along behind them, feeling just a tad-bit left out.
On the way, they run into Yokoyama and Hina, who say something about today being their and Ryo's 'day off,' which is a touch confusing to the others, but they don't linger, not when, after all this time, Tegoshi is so close.
He's in the kitchen, peeling potatoes for curry.
"Tegoshi," Koyama half sobs, half screeches, and dashes forward. Tegoshi turns, in shock from hearing that voice, and it's only his quick reflexes that keep him from accidently cutting Koyama's arm with the knife he's still holding.
"I- How-"
Koyama's not even pretending to hide his sniffling, and Tegoshi isn't much either. Shige and Yamapi step up too, though remain far more composed.
Tegoshi is the first to take notice of Massu, spotting him over Koyama's bent head.
"Oh, hello. I'm Tegoshi."
"Massu," he says, smiling. "I've heard a lot about you."
-
"It wasn't fun getting here," Tegoshi says, later that night, sitting around with the others. "We spent three days in the wilds before we got here and hooked up with another street gang."
"Poor Tegoshi," Koyama coos, petting him on the head.
"It was either leave the fort willingly, or be left for dead for the ghouls and crazies," Ryo explains. "We snuck out what we could while Subaru and Hina parlayed with the guys who attacked us. They were serious; had grenades, automatic weapons and some crazy good training. We didn't stand a chance. We'd worked with the head of this gang before, and it had gone well, so we headed this direction."
"Who's in charge here, anyways?" Pi asks "I should-"
Ryo waves his hand, dismissing Pi's concerns. "He'll be happy to have a few more good men around to fight and take watch. His name is Johnny, and he's an old, shrewd bastard, but damn good at defensive planning and such. You'll see him around."
"Wait, wait," Shige says, leaning forward into the conversation. "We're not going back to the bus?"
"I like it here. It's safer than even a regular fort," Tegoshi states, like his opinion is the only that matters.
Yamapi yawns, setting down his empty bowl of curry. "We've had a tough time getting here, at the least, let's take some time and rest, and then we'll decide."
-
Three weeks later, and they haven't left the station for anything other than turns at patrol and bringing their bus into the safe-zone nearby. Their rations are slowly turning into everyone's rations, and trading with strangers turns into trading with neighbors and friends.
Shige falls in love with their rough, unkept library, the pet-project of a fellow named Nakamaru, who says, "If we forget who we were, there's no hope in rebuilding." He takes it upon himself, on his days off, of course, to properly organize the books, slowly remembering the Dewey Decimal System.
Koyama can't tear himself from the group of kids, aged from infants to young teenagers, that are kept safe in the station. He sees his nephews in all of them, and they see a new family, and Koyama can't stand to tear their lives apart like that again.
Massu bonds with Tegoshi -- a most unexpected pair -- and sides with him on the whole not-leaving issue. And, it works. Because neither of them are fighters, unless under the most of dire of circumstances; they're far more happy to help out with maintenance and cooking and other duties within the safe confines of the station.
And, Yamapi is looked upon by the leader, Johnny, as some one important. The old man grins when he meets Pi for the first time, shakes his hand firmly and stares into his eyes like he can read Yamapi's soul. He sees a leader, a man who understands what loyalty and trust and devotion are. Johnny is old and well-aware of his mortality, and makes no false hopes about living long enough to see the world righted, but looking at Yamashita gives him hope for a future he'll never see. Because, most importantly, he sees a leader, someone who has all the skills to lead once he's gone, and he's not about to let these bus boys run off into the hopeless dawn.