residents of the dead

home sweet home pt 2

The Takagi Estate was one big ass house.  Jin wasn't quite sure what else to expecting, to be completely honest. They had been there for around a day or so, and despite the sense of calmness that had overtaken since arriving at the safe haven, Jin couldn't help but let his mind wander to the world beyond those walls that surrounded the mansion … beyond the barricades that had been set up on the roads … the hell that they had been living in for almost a week now …

He was wandering aimlessly around the house. There was nowhere in particular he weren't allowed to go, and the house was massive, so he could wander all he liked for as long as he liked and the odds were that Jin wouldn't encounter another living person; no dead ones, either, thankfully. He enjoyed the time to himself, it helped him think on things. There was a certain feeling of serenity he felt when spending time to himself, He didn't experience when with other people. Maybe it was because he didn't have the best example of what people were like growing up, or maybe just a little antisocial. Either one was a likely possibility.

Jin thought back on the last few days. On that first day, the day everything had come to an end, he hadn't taken it as badly as the others had. He had the initial confusion and fear when the shit started to hit the fan, but after that really wasn't as bothered as it should have been. The others all had a certain look of revulsion on their face when they saw the blood, when they killed one of the zombies, but Jin felt no such thing. It was just something he had to do.

The others were like that now, of course, and it was actually kind of sad to think about. It was like they had changed completely. They were still the same people with the same personalities, the same people had come to care about, but when the fighting started, when killing became necessary, it was like all their demeanors changed. It was almost bloodthirsty, the looks on their faces when they started fighting. He was almost entirely indifferent to it, but the others were adapting to it. The only one other than himself who hadn't changed all that much since this started was …

Saeko. The thought brought a smile to his face. But that's not entirely true, is it?

From the beginning, she had had that serious look on her face during a fight. She would smirk on occasion, but her eyes retained that dead serious look to them, like she was completely focused on what she was doing. That hadn't changed. But she had changed. At least, she had around me. When all of this started, she seemed to think of me in the same manner as one thinks of some disgusting thing they don't want to interact with, but now she was talking to Jin like a friend. It was strange, because despite the circumstances of the situation, he had genuinely never been happier in his life. Even without the crush on her, the fact that she had stopped treating him like the enemy would have made him feel this happy.

Jin wasn't so optimistic as to think that she might return his feelings one day, but the fact that she was a friend now was enough.

"—fter the way you fired that gun, my tits hurt, too!" Jin heard Rei's muffled voice coming out of the room she was in. He just happened to be passing by it. "So I'm gonna rub medicine on them!"

The speed with which Takashi exited that room was truly a sight to behold. Jin couldn't really blame him. Rei sounded pissed.

"Girl trouble?" The boxer asked him, smiling. Takashi looked at Jin and smiled, too. "Again? That's gotta be some kind of record for you, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, probably," said Takashi. "But you can't really talk. Up until recently, Busujima-senpai was treating you like you murdered her favourite dog."