Dead Serve

Part 22~Infected

No one moved. Everyone was frozen in place as Yamaguchi stood up. Blood dripped off his fingers, pooling around the dead body. Yamaguchi had killed Kenji.

Ayao's eyes widened, she swiftly grabbed a gun out of one of the guard's pockets, aiming it at the infected. She tried to shoot Yamaguchi down but her aim was bad and Yamaguchi didn’t care about the bullet passing into his shoulder.

Yamaguchi grabbed Ayao’s wrist, twisting it and forcing her to drop the gun, He pulled down, pinning Ayao to the ground. Yamaguchi leaned down, sinking his teeth into Ayao’s shoulder.

Tsukishima felt weak, he knew Yamaguchi was infected but that was not something he wanted to see.

“Come on,” Sugawara used the guard’s distraction to push him off. Sugawara grabbed Daichi and together they unwrapped Kiyoko and Yachi. If it hadn’t been for Tamaki, Tsukishima would have stayed, watching Yamaguchi killing Ayao.

Tamaki grabbed Tsukishima, pulling him towards the exit. “I think we need an exit and pronto!”

“Noya…” Asahi stared at the wall with a haunted look on his face.

Sugawara stopped, almost tripping Daichi over. “Asahi? What’s wrong, come on!”

“I thought I saw… never mind.” Asahi charged after the others.

“Turn right, follow the green light,” Kenma ordered, green arrows pointing the way.

“Good job Kitten,” Kuroo praised with a laugh.

Kiyoko grabbed a nearby table, sliding it behind her and obscuring the path. They kept running, twisting and turning and going further and further. Tsukishima almost let out a relieved sigh when he spotted the hidden garden.

“We’re almost there,” he announced, hope filling the team.

“Narita!” Kiyoko spun to a stop. Narita had fallen to the floor, groaning in pain. “What’s wrong?!”

Sugawara and Daichi ran over, bushing Narita’s head up. His body was shaking and sweat was pouring from his forehead.

“He’s infected,” Sugawara whispered. They knew that Ayao said she was infecting Narita but they didn’t want to believe it. Sugawara gave a begging look up to Daichi who already knew what Sugawara wanted to say. “We can’t leave him here.”

Daichi gripped Sugawara’s shoulders, pushing him away. “We can’t bring him with us.”

“But, Daichi! We can’t let them experiment on him!”

Daichi knew Sugawara was right. He didn’t want to leave behind Narita either but he had to be realistic. As with everyone else, he had to leave Narita behind. “Suga, please. We need to get ourselves safe first.”

Daichi hated the tears falling out of Sugawara’s eyes, he didn’t want to see his Suga in pain. He gently wrapped his arms around Sugawara, hugging him closely.

Shouting told them they had to go. Guards were coming closer. Intertwining their hands, Daichi pulled Sugawara towards the exit where Kiyoko and Asahi were waiting.

Neither noticed Narita reaching out. The weak fingers curled around Sugawara’s ankle pulling him down. Sugawara screamed as Narita bit into his ankle. In panic, Sugawara tried to kick Narita off.

Daichi grabbed Narita’s collar doing anything to get him off, Sugawara.

“Daichi! Look out!” Daichi jumped to the side just in time for Yamaguchi to miss him. Yamaguchi dug his nails into Narita’s eyes, the infected ex-team member screamed, letting Sugawara go. Daichi wrapped his arms under Sugawara’s arms, pulling him onto his feet and leading him away. Tsukishima led them through the maze and into the tunnel.

“Wait, I can’t go with you,” Sugawara pushed Daichi away, collapsing to the ground.

“Don’t be silly, I’m not leaving you.” Daichi knelt to Sugawara’s level, he tried to grab Sugawara but Sugawara wasn’t having it. He grabbed Daichi’s hands, smiling up kindly.

“Go, it will be okay.”

“No… I promised you at the start that I wasn’t going to leave you. I’m not leaving you.” Daichi felt broken. He didn’t want to lose Sugawara. “Please Suga, don’t leave me.”

Sugawara brushed his hand through Daichi’s hair. He loved the older boy and he will forever be thankful that Daichi picked up that phone call. “I love you Daichi but you have to go.”

Daichi shook his head, this couldn’t be happening. Looking back at the others, he met Tsukishima’s eyes. He knew he was being selfish, but he didn’t care. “Look after them for me.”

Sugawara’s eyes widened. There was no way he was going to let Daichi sacrifice himself. “No! Daichi, please.”

“It’s okay Suga. I said I wasn’t going to leave you.” Daichi didn’t care as he pressed his lips against Sugawara’s, holding the smaller closer. “The rest of you go. Lock the door after we are on the other side. Kenma, make sure the guards can’t follow you.”

“How is he going to do that?” Tamaki leant on the wall, his baseball bat missing.

“He knows.” Daichi picked up Sugawara, letting the smaller sob into his shoulder. Once he was on the other side, Tsukishima locked it.

Daichi felt calm as the buzzing signalled the caged being set free. He swore he swore Yamaguchi smiling at him.

Kuroo vaulted over the wire fence, swiftly running inside of the old house. The second they were in, Asahi broke to the floor. Daichi and Sugawara were dead. Nishinoya and Tanaka were dead. Narita and Yamaguchi were dead. Everyone was dead. Asahi didn’t want them to die!

“Let me out! Let me go! I know you’ve returned now let me go!”

Tsukishima sighed, this was going to get him into so much trouble.

Yachi squeaked in surprised, shaking a little. “Who’s that?!”

Tsukishima froze for a second, thinking back through the events that had occurred. Yachi never met Michi, she had been left behind when they went to get Sugawara and Daichi. It felt like weeks ago since that happened but Tsukishima knew it had only been three days. Three days and six more of their friends were dead. How long did they have left before they were infected too?

“Let me out!”

Tsukishima forced back the questions rattling his mind, unlocking the door. As expected, Michi had gotten out of his binding and was royally pissed.

“How dare you do that to me?! How dare you lock me up as you went to hurt my friends and my family! What kind of boyfriend are you?!” Michi pounded his fist into Tsukishima’s chest. He wasn’t going to forgive Tsukishima for what he did.

Tsukishima didn’t care.

Tsukishima pulled Michi into a tight hug, practically crushing him. Tsukishima felt the waterfall from his eyes. “I’m sorry… Please, I don’t think I can keep doing this.”

Tsukishima’s knee buckled, causing him to fall to the floor. Michi fell with him. He didn’t know what to do. He still loved Tsukishima. He would still do anything for the middle blocker. But Tsukishima hurt the lab. Those people were his family.

“I’m sorry Michi.”

“I should go,” Tamaki whispered, forcing himself up. He didn’t even get one step before Kenma grabbed him.

“You don’t have to.”

“I should.”

“No, you shouldn’t” Kuroo interrupted, pulling Tamaki down beside them. “You have nowhere to go. Stay.”

Tamaki looked like he wanted to argue but he knew he wasn’t getting out anytime soon.

Kiyoko lowered her head, she pulled Yachi closer- who was still looking between Michi and Tamaki in confusion. “There might be a bit of hope. I built Yamaguchi’s radio. If we get a reply, we might be able to get out.” Kiyoko put down the smaller radio.

This device held everyone’s hope. It was their way out, their way to safety. This device was everything.

"Noya?"