Are We Dead Now?

Five

Suguro cursed as he jumped back, narrowly avoiding the rotting arm that swung out to hit him. He really wished he could just use his bazooka, but that would make a lot of noise and attract even more of the ambling corpses.

They were almost halfway through the city by their fifth mission. It had been almost a month since they'd started these missions. They'd kept from losing any more people from the temple, thankfully.

"Hey, Bon! Use this!" Jun threw a metal pole to him. He caught it and batted away the zombies nearest to him. Then he spun the pole around like a staff and stabbed three of the monsters. It went through them like an undead shish-kebob. It was almost surprising to him that he could lift them and slam them into the side of a mail-truck. Then he remembered that they literally had almost no meat on their bones.

"Woah! Good hit, Bon!" Juzo cheered, kicking one into another behind it. He'd foregone the traditional robes and taken to just wearing regular clothes at this point. It made him much less easy to grab without the flowing robes and gave Suguro much less to worry about.

A few stragglers had surprised them, but they were almost finished, so it wasn't a big deal. Mamushi landed a swift roundhouse kick, followed by a mean left hook and knocked one's head clean off it's shoulders by pure force alone. Man, Suguro was glad she was with them.

Jun jumped on top of a car and jumped down, crushing one completely and making it look like a very real Halloween decoration. She cringed when she took her foot out of it's skull covered in goo, though.

"Should we go back now?" Mamushi asked. The teen shook his head. "Not yet. We need to find more clothes. Wearing old ones while we have scrapes and cuts will kill us by infection." He answered.

They only found a few pieces of clothing, but it was better than nothing. They'd retreat for now. So far, the young heir had been right in the fact that the zombies seemed to be traveling West.

He had a feeling there was something much bigger than the Zombie Apocalypse going on.....

§~•~§~•~§

The skin around the one deep wound in Rin's thigh had begun to turn red around the edges and for the thousandth time, he cursed his luck. It was infected. He'd been sweating so much that he'd taken off his jacket and tied it around his waist. That, along with having to stop walking and crouch because of dizziness definitely confirmed it. Luckily, it hadn't spread yet, but two other deep cuts were also starting to turn red around the edges.

He hadn't seen a pharmacy in a while, but that was because he'd made it out of Nagoya last week. The cuts had been fine, healing very slowly, but then he'd had to fight a few stragglers and had pulled the wounds back open. Now, they were infected.

Rin didn't know how far he'd be able to make it before he lost the use of his leg and the infection spread across his body. He was travelling in wilderness now. He'd forgone the highway bridge to the next city over after the last incident. He was pretty sure the next city over would be Kyoto, but it was much farther from Nagoya than Tokyo to Nagoya.

Rin had a long way to go and he was really suffering now. He was thankful for the piercing he'd decided to keep in. He could distract himself by clicking it in his mouth and making little tunes. Rin would probably be over halfway to Kyoto if it weren't for his damned leg at this point!

Well, at least if he found any wildlife, he'd have meat before he died.

§~•~§~•~§

Rin figured smoke from a fire shouldn't attract any zombies. He was far enough in for it to blend in with the smog already in the air.

He'd found a wild cherry patch and a Mulberry tree. He also knew that you could get bark from inside a tree and chew on it for nutrients. But it depended on the tree whether the flavor was good or not. So, he did the best he could with what he had. He cooked a small can of beans, mixed some cherry juice in it to give it some flavor, and then added in some tree bark to add substance. And if he got really desperate, he'd eat grass. Because it really didn't taste bad compared to what he'd been having. And if he could find some rare onion grass, he could have flavor.

God, how did things get so bad? A month ago, he was in great health and strong as he could be. Now, he was sitting on a fallen tree cooking beans, berries, and tree bark in a can out in the wilderness!

He hated his life so much in this moment.

But! There was still hope. If he could find a stream, he'd use the can he was eating out of now. He'd wash it out, then he'd fill it and boil the bacteria out of the water. After he cut off the dead skin, he'd clean it out with the water and cauterize the wounds with his sword.

It was his best shot.

He finished his dinner and laid down to sleep in his bed of leaves.

He'd find water tomorrow.

§~•~§~•~§

Suguro felt like something was coming. Something big. He was on edge. His mother kept asking him what was wrong, but he didn't exactly know what was wrong either, so what was he supposed to tell her?

"Hey, I feel like something is going to happen, but I have no idea what or when it is and it's most likely just me being paranoid."

Hell no! He'd sound crazy. He didn't want his mother to worry any more than she already was.

He would keep to himself until he knew for sure what was happening.

§~•~§~•~§

It wanted to escape. It wanted to find that memory. That being. The one with tan flesh.

It couldn't get past this thing. It kept it from going farther. It made it stay and roam with the others. It didn't want to be with the others.

It wanted to find the creature with tan flesh and remember.

It would find a way out.