05

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On the Road Again

Hinata made his way down the road slowly, picking through shattered storefronts looking for usable supplies. He wasn't sure how long they'd be traveling, but the nearest town to Nagoya was Kanie, but they weren't likely to find much there. Beyond that were Yatomi and Aisai, but Hinata had never been to either of those, and he'd rather not risk visiting a place he'd never explored.

"This is harder than I thought…" he mumbled to himself, kicking a piece of concrete and watching it skitter over the cracks in the road. The piece lodged on a pipe lying in the road and Hinata jumped over it, keeping an eye out for a utility or convenience store.

Nagoya was big enough that most avoided it, but it had still been picked clean by the few willing to venture deep inside the city limits. Hinata was forced to travel further and further down the block, until he was nearly back to Nagoya Station.

As he approached the entrance, there was a sharp boom of thunder and before he could blink, the sky opened up like a floodgate. Hinata yelped, quickly covering his head as he stumbled into the nearest shop. The sky had turned as black as night in an instant, lightning flashing and wind howling like a hungry wolf.

Hinata retreated further into the shop, peering around as he tied his scarf tightly around his neck. There were broken dishes littering the ground and a ripped, bloody apron lying across a dusty table: It must've been a restaurant.

Rain poured in from holes in the walls, pooling on the floor and seeping through the sagging floor. The whole structure looked like it could come down at any second—but it also probably had supplies, and Hinata knew he couldn't return to Kageyama empty-handed. He felt like he had to prove himself: to show that he was more than just a 'reckless kid,' as the sniper saw him.

"There must be food around here somewhere," he muttered to himself, wading through the rubble toward the swinging kitchen doors in the back of the restaurant. Rainwater kept dripping on his head from holes in the ceiling foundation, sliding down his neck and sending uncomfortable shivers down his spine.

Hinata quickly wiped the droplets away and ducked into the kitchen, nearly smacking face-first into a dangling ceiling beam. After a second of recovery, he ducked underneath to reach the gutted body of the kitchen.

Pots and pans were scattered across the floor and the strong scent of decaying rats was strong enough to make Hinata gag. He covered his nose with another layer of cloth, stepping carefully over fallen dishes to avoid making a sound. "It looks like a tornado went through here," he muttered to himself, turning sideways to slip behind an overturned bakery rack. "It must've been looted already."

The further back he got, the worse the place looked, but there was a room in the back labeled 'Dry Storage' and it spurred his hope. Hinata stumbled less carefully over the rest of the scattered equipment to reach it. "There's gotta be something in he— eeEHHHH!" He jumped back with a yelp as a zombie came crashing through the door from the other side as soon as he moved the handle.

Hinata scrambled back, reaching for his gun, but his foot slipped on a pot and he stumbled into the baking rack. He lost his balance, falling flat over it and scraping his back in the process. "Ack—" he barely managed to complain before the zombie was on him.

It scrabbled at his arms, teeth gnashing together loudly, and he held it back while kicking his legs in an attempt to throw it off. It's empty, sightless eyes stared into his very soul as he scrambled to keep its teeth away from his neck. He couldn't reach his gun. "Get off— Get off me!"

The corpse was unusually strong. Almost like it had a strategy, it tried to grab his forearms to hold them back, snapping viciously at his exposed face. Hinata craned his neck back as far as he could, feeling the sharp metal rack bite into it painfully. He'd never seen a zombie act so… smart before.

"Dang it." He managed to get his knees between them, but the zombie weighed a ton and Hinata wasn't strong enough to kick it off. It was just like that time...

He could see Izumi and Kōji's blood staining the grass and hear the faint screams of his classmates; feel the cold weight of a rock in his hand, blood dripping between his fingers. I can't die here. I can't. I can't. I can't. I can't.

"No!" he shouted aloud, ramming his elbow into the metal. The sharp pain snapped himself out of the memory and back into the harsh reality. "There is no way I'm gonna die in some crappy restaurant!" He moved to punch the zombie hard in the nose with one hand, reaching for his gun with the other.

He got his fingers around it, but the freaking safety was on—after almost shooting Kageyama that morning, he'd switched it on to avoid feeling guilty. Dammit, freakin' Kageyama!

The zombie quickly knocked it out of his hand and it slid across the floor, disappearing underneath the burned-out shell of an industrial baking oven. Hinata was seriously considering just letting himself die at that point. His whole family was probably rolling over in their graves.

"How about we call it a truce?" he suggested shakily to the zombie.

It, of course, tried to kill him instead of replying. Its teeth dove for his jugular and Hinata scrambled with his hand, grabbing a metal serving tray and jamming it between the snapping jaws moments before disaster. He could've said a snappy one-liner, but his brain was firing at about a million times its normal speed. All he could think was, This is bad, this is bad, this is really bad, which clearly wasn't helping very much.

"Wow, are you actually stupid?"

For a minute, Hinata couldn't place the voice. Then, he tilted his head upside-down to find Kageyama standing in the doorway, eyebrow raised. "Kageyama? Wha— aIEE!" The zombie spit out the mangled tray and Hinata squealed as it aimed for his throat again. "Are you gonna help or what?!"

"This is pitiful." Kageyama pushed himself away from the doorway and pulled out his pistol, waving it unhelpfully beside his head. "Should I kill it, or do you want to salvage your dignity?" He extended the gun, but the zombie grabbed his arm when Hinata tried to reach for it.

"What the—" Kageyama's eyes widened and he quickly cocked the pistol, putting a bullet straight between the zombie's eyes before it could bite Hinata. He gasped as its dead weight crushed him, gagging on the strong stench of blood as Kageyama dragged him out by the arms.

"What the hell was that?" he demanded, gesturing at the fallen corpse with his gun. "Did it just… stop you?"

"Don't ask me." Hinata didn't look at him, retrieving his gun from underneath the oven. He hid his shaking hand in his sweatshirt pockets before Kageyama could see them. "Let's just go… There's nothing here."

He ducked back through the destroyed kitchen, Kageyama hesitating a moment before following after him.

Hinata shivered as they ducked out into the rain, trying to shake off the overpowering sense of shock. Whatever had happened with that zombie, there was definitely something weird going on...

Kageyama could tell he was shaken. His eyes kept combing their surroundings, and it wasn't cold enough for him to be shaking so much. He felt a little bad about teasing him. Everyone had careless moments, and making fun of him definitely wouldn't assure Hinata of his trustworthiness.

Still, what that zombie had done… It made him very uneasy. The way it had grabbed Hinata's arm like that wasn't normal. It was almost as if it had known what he was doing and was stopping him, but… that wasn't possible. Corpses weren't supposed to be smart.

Kageyama wanted to ask Hinata about it, but he still wouldn't look at him. Whatever had happened before he had arrived had clearly unnerved him, and asking him about it was out of the question. Maybe he would open up about it if Kageyama left it alone for a while.

"Hey…" He cleared his throat and tried again. "Hey, I found us a motorcycle. It's lightweight and won't take much gas or make much noise. It should get us to at least the edge of Ōharu."

"Ōharu," Hinata repeated quietly. The faintest smile crossed his face, and Kageyama felt the tension in his chest lessen with the gesture. "Huh… I didn't think of there."

The air of tension is gone. Good. It would be way too awkward if they were silent the whole ride to Ōharu. Besides, he was dead-set on cracking the mystery of Hinata. He clearly had secrets to hide, and nobody could withhold their demons back forever. Kageyama could never resist mysteries.

"You have a weird look on your face," Hinata told him bluntly. "Y'know, I'm starting to think you're a secret pervert or something, Kageyama-kun."

Kageyama choked on his own breath. "Wha— What the hell is with that all of a sudden?! I'm not a pervert!"

"That's exactly what a pervert would say." Hinata hugged himself dramatically. "Maybe we shouldn't travel together, after all. I'm a bit worried about your constitution."

"Do you wanna die?" Kageyama hissed, hiding his blush in his jacket. "I'm about to pistol-whip you."

Hinata snickered. "Relax, I'm just kidding. Unless you really are a pervert, then I'll kill you."

"I'd like to see you try," Kageyama scoffed. "I just saved you a few minutes ago, remember that?"

"Didn't count," Hinata denied, moving past him confidently. "I saved you like twice, so I still have a one-up on you."

"What?" Kageyama chased after him angrily. "Hey, that's not how it works, dumbass!" He pulled Hinata back by the arm as they approached the entrance to the station. "Hey, don't just go barging in. It could be dangerous."

"Aww, are you concerned?" Hinata teased him lightly. He patted him on the shoulder with a smug smile. "Don't worry: you can just pistol-whip the zombies."

Kageyama bit back a reply and skulked after him with a click of the tongue. This kid… He's got a million different sides to him. First he was upset, and now he's being sarcastic? I don't get him at all.

"Hey, why are you the one leading us, anyway?" He pulled Hinata back by the collar and stalked past him. "I'm the one who knows where the motorcycle is."

"Alright, fine: lead away."

They headed around the back of the station to the main road, where Kageyama had parked the motorcycle outside an old athletics store. "We don't have much supplies, but Ōharu is only about thirty minutes away." Kageyama grabbed a helmet and offered it to him. "I hear there's a weapons factory near there. I've been wanting to check it out for a while."

"A weapon's factory? You're going to risk it?" Hinata frowned, strapping on the helmet. "I bet it's totally infested."

"What, now you choose to become nervous?" Kageyama threw up the motorcycle's kickstand and revved the engine. "Hurry up and get on."

"You're way too demanding," Hinata told him, but he got on anyway. He hesitated a moment before wrapping his arms around Kageyama's waist. "Do you even know the way?"

Kageyama, fighting back an inexplicable blush, pulled onto the road. The rain gusting into his face helped control the sudden heat. "Yeah, I think so. I've been near there once or twice before."

They pulled onto the highway and Kageyama felt Hinata's arms tighten around him as they picked up speed. It was hard to see through the rain, which turned torrential with their extra momentum, and Kageyama hunched over the handlebars to see more clearly. "Just keep an eye out. We should know the factory when we see it. It's supposed to take up an odd twelve miles of land directly northwest of here."

"Wait." Hinata pointed over his shoulder at a hazy dot on the horizon: a supermarket parking lot. "Maybe we should stop there to check for supplies first."

Kageyama covered his eyes to peer through the rain. "No way. Look at that huge hoard surrounding it."

"Whoa…" Hinata whistled through his teeth. "What do you think they're after in there?"

"Must be a group of survivors," Kageyama decided. "Nothing else would rile them up like that. We shouldn't risk it."

"We can't just leave them in there," Hinata protested loudly in his ear, throwing his weight forward. "We should help them!"

"Oi!" Kageyama grimaced and held him back. "Are you trying to kill us?! Sit back down!"

"Not until you agree to help!" Hinata reached up to cover his eyes and Kageyama swerved.

"Dumbass— You're insane!" He pushed Hinata's hands off before they could end up in the ditch. "Alright, fine: we'll help!"

"Yay!" Hinata's hand returned to his waist and Kageyama resisted the urge to brake hard enough to send him flying.

It seemed almost inevitable that they'd end up killing each other.

A/N: Finally got around to finishing this chapter! I hope you guys liked it. I'm honestly so in love with Kags in this, he's just the sassiest human left on the earth and I love it.