Are We Dead Now?

Four

Rin was successful in getting across the highway.

It just took him two extra days because of all the cars and how bad his leg was.

It didn't swell too much, so he got lucky there. He hadn't gotten blood poisoning and there were no signs of Tetnis. Yet.

But the skin around the cut areas was turning an ugly yellowish-purple. All he could do was wash it, pull the dead skin off, and then re-wrap it.

"This is how I die. With a crippled leg and candy." He muttered to himself, popping another sweet treat in his mouth and relishing in the click sound it made when it collided with his piercing. He hobbled as fast as he could without falling over or throwing up from the intense pain.

§~•~§~•~§

"I really miss having meat." He sighed to himself later that night as he ate flavorless beans out of a can. Oh how he loathed canned beans. He missed cooking, too. He used to make all kinds of foods, from Japanese food to Western food. Oh what he wouldn't do to be able to make Fried Chicken or Sukiyaki again!

He remembered learning to bake at one point too, when he was young.

There used to be this old man who owned a bakery down the street. He used to give Rin treats for free after the bakery closed and there were still goods left. He had a granddaughter Rin's age. She was half American-half Japanese. The other kids made fun of her for it, but Rin never cared. He'd never known his dad, but he'd overheard Shiro mention that their dad was a Russian soldier and he'd mentioned another time that their mom was a Japanese flower shop manager.

So he knew the girl probably felt out of place. Of course, no one ever knew the twins were half-Russian, they just didn't like the two boys and decided to taunt them relentlessly until Rin beat crap out of them.

The girl used to let Rin into the back of the store, where they made all the desserts. She'd given him some recipes after her grandfather died and she had to move back to Hawaii with her dad.

Actually.....

Hawaii sounded great right about now. Rin wondered if he could make it that far.....

He decided that if he could make it to a boat and get the boat to work, he'd sail to Hawaii and live there. If that didn't work, then just go to other islands. Maybe he'd even go to America. There  was plenty of space to run in that country.

Hopefully zombies couldn't swim.

§~•~§~•~§

He woke up when it was still dark out. Not what he wanted. But when he finally realized why he'd woken up, he got up as silently as he could. His leg protested greatly at such rushed movement and he may have accidentally bitten his tongue, which hurt his piercing, but he didn't have time to think about that. He was nearly surrounded by zombies.

If he could just make it through the small open side that they weren't on, he could maybe take them all down or at least disable them long enough to get away.

He pulled out his katana and dagger. He only ever used the ax for the really big zombies. As the corpses got closer, he checked behind him. Still clear.

The first corpse stumbled within range and he sliced through it's rotting skin and brittle bones easily, lopping off it's head. Another three came in from his left as one came from the right. He cursed, stepping to the right and putting the knife through the zombie's head as he swung the katana to slice through the three zombies on the left.

After that, he had to back up and properly cut their heads off before staggering forward to get rid of the rest of the zombies. There were too many to be vulnerable, so he focused on the zombies and stood upright so he had proper balance to fight.

His instincts kicked in and he was slaying them all while moving light on his feet. 'Like a leaf in the wind.' Rocco had once told him.

×××××××××

"Remember, these are not regular humans. They're corpses who eat whatever living thing they see." Rocco walked around him in a slow circle.

"I know." Rin rolled his eyes underneath the blindfold.

"So, they move differently. They don't walk, they shuffle. Their bones are weak and rotting, just like their muscles. They have no objective but to eat whatever is in front of them. So, if you learn how to fight a human, then you'll easily be able to take them down without any weapons." She explained.

"Pffft, I've fought three guys at one time before. I'm pretty sure I don't need this training." Rin snorted.

With quick movements, Rocco jabbed his throat while kneeing him in the stomach. He collapsed to his knees before she kicked him over so he was on the ground.

"If you didn't see that coming after being such a smart ass, you're gonna die first. Get on your feet and take stance." She ordered. She sounded like a drill sergeant.

Rin groaned from the ground.

"Oh, stop bein' a pussy! What happened to taking on three guys at one time? Get up."

He did what he was told and got to his feet.

"Good. Now, we're gonna practice the basics."

×××××××××

Rin came back to the present, realizing he was still in the middle of the road. He sighed, wishing he still had his friends, but quickly pushed that out of his mind. They were probably all dead. No point in wishing for impossible things.

So he limped to the sidewalk, scanning the area for any store that wasn't looted. He found a small pharmacy. It probably didn't have anything useful to him, but it was worth checking out. He needed his leg to heal fast because it was slowing him down way too much. Not to mention the cuts kept opening back up and bleeding.

Rin really needed to clean the wounds out properly and hopefully find something to use as stitches. Yukio had taught Rin a little about first aid. He'd told Rin that with all the toxicity in the air due to the decay of everything around them, it wasn't good to leave wounds and cuts open. They'd get infected and the the person would be incapacitated and probably die.

Rin knew how to do stitches himself even without pain medicine. He'd always been out on the streets, so he'd taken to caring for himself so Yukio didn't have to worry and could focus on training to be a doctor.

Rin growled at his situation. He'd walk just a couple more miles, then he'd have to stop.

§~•~§~•~§

It couldn't feel much. Its shoulders hurt. Its entire body hurt. It wanted to give up, but something was keeping it from doing that. A memory. A creature with tan flesh in a memory it couldn't make out.

Why couldn't it just end? Where was it? This place was familiar. There were others like it, all around. Yellowish flesh. Rotting bones. But it was different from them. It was different. It was better then them. It was stronger than them. It could think, unlike them.

It would find its way to that memory. Then it would rest.