They drove to the nearest city feeling drained and awkward, the streets were eerily quiet, aside for the occasional groaning of a zombie shuffling down an alleyway or the distant rumble of an abandoned car.
The sun began to set, casting a soft orange glow across the ruined city and painting it in shades of rotting beauty. As they drove on through what used to be bustling neighborhoods and vibrant marketplaces, Higa couldn't help but feel like this silent wasteland was more oppressive than any army of zombies we might encounter.
He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something but Carla beat him to it. "A-Aoto... do you mind if I ask a question?" She sounded rather serious, despite her stuttering. The air in the car felt thick with tension; it was filled with a tense kind of silence that only comes before an argument. One could almost feel the charged particles passing through the atmosphere like all of them had been taken into a vacuum chamber.
We were all on edge, Himari's heart was pounding fiercely as she looked over at Higa at the wheel and steeled herself for what was coming next.
"No, go ahead." Aoto gave his response, keeping a disinterested look on his face as he stared outward at the window. The last few moments of the fight had flung around in his head, did he miss the opportunity for further strength? Or perhaps it was that strength a trap? Maybe he could just keep asking the god for more. Yeah, that's it…
Carla took a deep breath, she knew what she had to say but she didn't want to be rude, tediously tracing circles on the arm rest. "I need you to be entirely compliant with me, Aoto." Carla let her gaze fixate on the window in which Aoto was looking into. Both of them locked eyes through the reflection on the thick glass. "Let me fight alone–'
"No." He replied with haste, not even turning around. His shoulder tensed at even the idea. It looked as though Aoto was remembering something, a possibility so harsh that it made him shake his head to clear his thoughts afterwards. "Never, not again."
"And why not? Who are you to continue to keep me from fighting while my best friends are going out and putting their lives on the line? I'm not a princess in need of saving, Mario. " Carla threw in her counter statement, pointing out just how stupid Aoto's answer was.
"But we both remember what you did last time you even got your hands on one, and that excludes the few days after we found you. " Aoto waved the idea of letting her join the fight. He wouldn't even let her hold a kitchen knife!
"That doesn't matter now!" Carla retorted with a harsh tone in her voice, pinching the bridge of her nose as she looked around the car. Himari and Higa were being as silent as they could, their eavesdropping was at its peak!
"We're in a zombie apocalypse. We need everyone to fight and that includes-" She was cut off by the sudden stopping of the rover, Aoto looked over at her with a troubled and reluctant expression, while Higa jumped a little! There'd been bodies blocking the road, it'd been to a point. "Prove you can control yourself."
Carla looked surprised at first, she didn't expect to get this far. She nodded, her head lowering as her face flushed in excitement. She played with her fingers, her indexes circling around each other. Maybe it was the fact she asked politely? She had always been a polite girl since she was picked up, never wavering even when growing up.
If she was ever rude, people wouldn't want to do things with or for her if she had been. Her mother had told her that. Carla's mind wandered to faint glimpses of her mother's face. Long, inky hair flowing over her shoulder as she looked down at the young girl. They'd been in a warehouse, hiding away, her mom was skinny and tired, but nonetheless had the smile of a weary goddess.
The older woman curled Carla's hair in between her fingertips, the white and black strands dancing and mingling with each other as the color only half resembled her mom's. Carla never complained, she never opened her lips to say much, but at this age all she could say to her mother were compliments and thank you's. 'You're so pretty mama', 'you're so kind mama', 'thank you mama', 'look mama, i have your eyes!'. The happiness never seemed to end.
Higa started the car again, jolting Carla back to her senses as they began to go on the move. Higa was driving on the dead grass off the road, the bumps and shoves from the uneven ground making it a bit difficult to day dream. The drive was still quiet as far as driving a car on uneven terrain went, but Himari wasn't very tense anymore. SHe hummed happily and reached for the glove box, glasses rolling out as it seemed someone had left them there…
The city was big, Himari took the glasses and popped them onto her face, her grin wide as she peeked her head out the window and stared into the void-like sky. There were tiny specks of stars, spread like white paint flicked onto parchment paper.
Higa stopped at a parking lot, cutting the car off as both him and Aoto nodded at each other. "Right, let's get this over with. We'll set camp here at this parking lot. There's a grocery store, a shooting range, and a bank all just a few blocks away from each other" Higa ran a finger across his lip, his eyes shutting as he thought of his idea very clearly. "If we could find coins at the bank we could smelt them onto the bullets, and we'd have a general defense against the zombies again.."
Aoto nodded, extending his hand toward Carla as he gave a sweet smile. It was a smile like a birthday cake, or a gentle hand caressing your cheek. He hadn't smiled like this in ages. Looking around, Carla could see why it was ideal for what Higa had in mind, the snake was giving Aoto some space. Carla took Aoto by hand as she nodded, allowing herself to be guided toward the nearest shooting range, just as they'd been directed.
Himari tilted her head to an angle, watching as the two interlocked hands and walked away. She shook the butterflies away from her body as the pink in her eyes melted away. "Are they..?" Himari turned her head toward Higa for an answer, but unfortunately it was for naught, he couldn't even make eye contact with the girl.
With the other two gone, Himari and Higa had left to scavenge for more food, the most they had would keep them alive for another month if rationed correctly, so they aimed to further increase the amount of time they'd have to survive with food and water.
After a bit of wandering around, Himari had come across a retail store, next to it was a smaller record store that had its windows smashed in. Glass was scattered along the firm concrete, glittering like brilliant stars in the milky moonlight as Higa made his way carefully around the pieces. Though he was wearing shoes, there was no way of telling if items would be infected by the wave as well. His eyes traced the figure of the shop, occasionally allowing his gaze to fall on the butterflies that would land on Himari's body, only to be shoo'd away before long.
"Are they friends, or.." he quipped, causing Himari to turn his direction and raise an eyebrow. Her hands crossed as she let out a small crow. He inched a bit closer to her, and she followed suit until the both of them were at hip bumping distance. Himari placed a hand on her chin thinking hard about what she'd do as her ears began to twitch a bit. That was new, at least to Higa.
"I've been thinking~ we haven't heard of any zombies since we got here, what if they're in the buildings?" her inquiry came out pretty flat, she knew the zombie could smell now, but seeing as none were banging at the walls, she was sure that this place was almost completely evacuated. Shrugging the possibility of ambush off, Himari approached the retail store and broke the glass door, with Higa gently moving in between the shards. Like before, he couldn't be sure what could be infected.
To be honest, the place looked well kept. Like nobody had been there since the day it was abandoned. Shelves were stocked to the gills, bags of chips, drinks left in the fridge, all sorts of trinkets and clothes. Higa searched around for a pair of gloves, his hand tracing the patterns of the wooden patterns of the hard shelves. It was strange, almost as though the patterns found on the tree were actively changing into cat-like symbols.
While he did end up finding the gloves, along with some plastic black bags to store the food they were about to take. Higa walked over the counter as his gas rested on a vinyl player, he hadn't seen one in real life before. Usually those things were only seen in older shows or movies, and maybe a few anime.
He could see that there was already a disk on it, as well as a casing for it, but the dust was so heavy on it that he could barely see what or who the cover featured. A bit annoyed, Higa slipped the baby blue nurse gloves from his hands, brushing the mild sweat from his palms before putting another set on. He wiped the dust from the cover of the vinyl, his eyes widening and twinkling with a sense of excitement as he quickly realized what exactly he'd been holding!
"Himari! I'm pretty sure the owner had Ado's limited edition first press record the day the apocalypse happened! Come look!" He whipped around and beckoned the now butterfly surrounded girl over, with the rest being trapped outside.
Himari shook the butterflies off like an excited dog, bounding over and slamming her hands on the counter as she bounced up and down to try and get a glimpse of the cover. "Really? Carla would kill for that! She was stressed trying to get it when the album first came out! Of course, we all know she failed, but this could be like a little gift ya know?" she gushed, just imagining the excitement on her friend's face when giving her the vinyl.
"I'm pretty sure she'd kill for anything." Higa snickered under his breath, rolling his eyes as he decided it'd be the best time to play around a bit. After all, it was only them two. "You're mentioning her? On our little hang out? How cruel~" Higa faked tears, comedicaly wiping one away from his eye.
Himari lightly elbowed his arm, wrapping his arms around her waist as she rested her own hands on his neck. "Aw come on! You can only save your lunch for so long, dear. Let's not make a stop sign a red light." Himari patted Higa on the neck, her lips curving into a sweet smile, like honey on a glazed donuts. "Is this about that choker incident
Himari thought back to their first year. When she first met Higa, she had given him a black, leather choker with a chain and a metallic heart. He kept it on basically everywhere, except for when he relaxed at home. One time when everyone was over Carla had accidentally flung the choker off of the coffee table, out of the window, and into the woods while fighting with Aoto on the couch.
The group had spent a solid three hours looking for it before they had just assumed it'd been lost forever. To this day Himari believes that's the reason those two don't get along as well as they do with the rest of the crew
"I took pretty good care of that thing. Polished and all. Now some deer is probably wearing it." Higa feigned a mope, releasing a single hand from Himari's waist and resting it on his cheek. Himari gasped at the idea of a woodland creature wearing his gift. Despite her best efforts, she had let a cruel chuckle slip from her lips!
"A deer? Oh goodness, do you truly believe that?" She took her arms from his neck and used one of them to pinch his cheek, the other one reaching beyond him. "While that is a possibility, I don't think any deer would have the sense, plus, i can get you another one!"
Himari snatched a small, jingling item from the shelf behind him. A harsh hue of sunset orange being glaringly visible in Higa's peripheral vision. "Found one~ See?" Himari huffed pridefully, seeming to sparkle at her own genius as she held up an orange neckband with a bright, sunflower yellow buckle and a silver bell.
Higa seemed irritated at most, glancing at what Himari believed to be a replacement choker and back up at Himari, his eyebrow lifting in sheer confusion at the sentiment. "That–That uhm–...That's a cat collar." Higa flicked the bell of the accessory, his eyes still on the girl in front of him as she seemed to snicker delightedly
"Boo! I worked so hard trying to find such brilliant—brilliant uhh–" Himari looked to find the right words, it seemed the idea of her sentence was slipping from her. She dragged her finger along Higa's neck, trying her best not to break skin with her nails as her pupils began to spiral, just as they did before. "Craftsmanship.."
Himari felt Higa's body tense as she blew on his neck, her lips lifting into a hysteric, crooked smile. She let out a breathless chuckle, her teeth brushing against his neck as the spiralling began to intensify. "I wonder–"
She was immediately cut off by the shattering of glass, causing Himari to snap her head away and bury her head into Higa's collarbone, "what the hell?! I was this close." She cursed under her breath, quiet enough so that no one could hear her. Himari's body went limp, head back bending backward as she wrapped her arms around Higa's neck again, holding her body up and looking at the group of hooded figures entering the store.
Other humans? Higa didn't know whether he should be excited or worried. The idea of more people in the group could significantly get in the way of his whole plan, it'd be an inconvenience, worst case scenario too many people would be around and he wouldn't be able to kill Aoto.
"Hey! What's good with you guys?" He tilted his head to the side, raising an eyebrow as his face scrunched inward in displeasure. Could he convince Himari to feel off about these guys? Then again, he wasn't fully aware of their intentions, perhaps he didn't need to do anything at all.
None of the hooded figures responded, looking around the area as they all seemed to spot the bags and bags of food, resources, and..a vinyl CD? They looked at each other in confusion, their hands gripping different parts of their body as a harsh glow had assaulted HIga's eyes.
They were getting robbed, weren't they? Higa sighed, reaching for the railgun. He, of course, was immediately stopped by Himari's hand. The girl smirked confidently, The group reeked of zombies, so this was justified, right?
Maybe they were just a new type? Yeah, totally. "Stay here and keep scavenging, alright? Let the reliable butterfly have a little snack!" Himari slid her body off of Higa, sliding her foot across the ground fluidly as she spun around toward the creatures.
She eyed them for a long moment, the glowing and pulsing under the group's sleeve throwing her off.
"What the hell are those?" She lifted her eyebrow as she questioned the creatures, her eyes becoming a full canvas of void-ish black before a neon pink swirled into the frey, giving Himari her long missed fuzzy feeling. She could feel her neck tighten a bit, the tattoo on her neck had felt like knives sinking further into her skin, and it seemed to sting the more she was in this form.
"These? Heh, they're custom made hybrid hunting–" A flying knee had crushed the hooded creature's nose as Himari cut it off, grabbing it by the ears and earring them off.
"You talk a lot for a zombie!" a thick steam shot from her body. Disappearing into the night sky as her temperature gradually rose. She gripped the hooded creature by the head, her nails digging deep into its temples as she pressed her palms against the sides of its head.
There'd been a sharp crunch, no louder than the sound of popcorn being made in a microwave oven, though, only one kernel was subjected to such pressure, for now. "Okay~ who's next!" Himari chirped, her eyes closing into a harmless smile.
The group of creatures stumbled back a little, did this woman just crush their comrade's head?! This wasn't a game anymore, one of them, a girl with burgundy hair, had thrown her robe off. Her clothes seem to reflect what little light the moon had given them, she was probably wearing a latex bodysuit, along with heavy defensive armor on top of it and, what really caught Himari's eye, a turtle shell-shaped shield.
Himari opened her mouth to speak, but was immediately stopped by a green light under her foot. Her eyes dilated as she quickly summoned a flutter of butterflies to lift her from the ground, though they didn't come as quickly as she wanted them to.
The cracks in the weak concrete began to explode with water, forcing Higa to take the bags of scavenged goods and retreat a couple of feet back, only until the domain of water hadn't reached him. He placed his hand on his railgun as Higa wondered just how well he'd be able to help against people who were likely on the same scale of power that Himari was, they could also outnumber her…He needed a plan. And fast.
Himari on the other hand, had been eyeing the water from the sky, like a hawk, she was calculating something too. The water wasn't all, was it?
Algae began to rapidly form along the surface of the water, though it had purple, pulsing veins, like it was alive somehow. She raised an eyebrow, flipping onto the flutter of butterflies to use them as some sort of makeshift platform.
Himari squinted her eyes to try and get a better look at the threats below though her vision was scarce due to just how high of ground she was, but she could tell most of the water was contaminated with some kind of creatures. It'd be best to keep her distance from the floor for now.
A faint whisper was heard from below, though it might've just been because of how high Himari had been. Before she could strategize any further, she felt the platform under her feet suddenly vanish, her heart sinking to her stomach as cold water stung her skin. What just happened?
Himari's eyes shot up as she covered her body with a swarm of butterflies, looking up at a woman with tiger patterns on his forearms, the tattoos stretching all the way to his neck. The woman seemed pale, skinny, like he was having a tea party with Doctor Death.
It was almost sad to see, but as little time as she had with spotting the culprits, she had just as much time to defend herself. Himari felt her butterflies being rapidly dismembered, almost like termites devouring wood. Her eyes widened, trying to swim back up as she was met with a foe she'd never seen before.
Specifically, an animal she'd never seen before. There'd been a shark, one with pale eyes and bulging veins that made it look as though the sea creature was already long dead. Its eyes were a monotonous purple, and its teeth were almost artificially sharp.
Himari flinched for a moment as the shark bit her arm, its teeth sinking into her flesh as the swampy water had begun to grow slightly pink with blood. The shark dragged her through the artificial lake, threatening to tear her forearm to shreds as she struggled.
She summoned a scythe of butterflies, but they'd been quickly dispersed as the water ate away at them. She was stuck, and at this rate, she'd be long dead before she could even think about building that house with Higa.
Himari's neck stung for a moment, the feeling of the tattoo on her neck actively shifting had still been a new sensation, but it's practically been nothing compared to the mauling she was experiencing first hand.
A sharp crackle pierced the water, purple electricity spreading its static fingers through the water from Himari's blood. It wasn't nearly as potent as when one of the butterflies she could make, but she was essentially one of them, right?
Himari clenched her first, gripping the shark by its rough skin as she gripped it hard enough to draw blood from the creature. She flipped the shark upside down, using as much of the electricity she could possibly create with the amount of blood that spread through the waters to completely fry the sea creature!
The water boiled around her as the heat stung on her skin, flakes of flesh floating off of her body as the water around her evaporated in an instant. Before any sound could be made, Himari's legs tensed up, the muscle prepping on on her thighs and calves as she zipped through the area with a whistle. Himari had vanished from the field entirely, and it seemed Higa was running away as well. Were they retreating?
"It'd make sense," The turtle-armed woman sighed, her eyes panning slowly to the ground; "the two were outnumbered by three. It would be smart to—" A whistle was heard flinging from behind her head, cutting her off as she hastily raised her turtle shell to retaliate…but nobody was there.
It hadn't been longer than a few seconds, what was that sound? The tiger-printed man trembled a bit, his eyes frantic and scared as he whipped his head over either side of his shoulders. It seemed he was always wary of hybrids, peaking just about now. "I can't–I can't keep doing this with you people!" The man spat in a shaky voice, his hands trembling as you could practically see his bones through his arms.
"Just what the hell do you keep getting me into?! I can't—wont—-keep risking my life for a cause that doesn't even fully involve me!" The man spun around, his head hanging low as he stumbled slightly when walking. The tiger weapon had gradually been eating away at his body with each command he gave, the man was corroding and everyone had been treating it so casually.
He looked up, his vision blurring as his frame trembled more violently than before. The man was sure, nobody was behind him at first, the formation specifically had them positioned right in front of him so that nobody could get in the way of his verbal commands.
So who could this man—this tall, faceless man—possibly be..?
"Who…" The man couldn't see the faceless figure too well, like static had forced itself onto the figure, there was no way of seeing the man without a blur. He turned his head around to try and see if the others had been seeing the same figure, and it seemed like they did, but they were talking–no, they were yelling. No volume had been heard by him but they were yelling and pointing behind him.
"What're you saying…? I don't understand, could he really be—" before the man could fully turn her head back around, a snap was heard. It was a sharp, aggressive snap that had been too quick to process any properly than a friend exploding in front of your eyes.
But…that was exactly what happened wasn't it? The turtle shielded woman stifled a scream as she looked over at what used to be her comrade. Instead of the frail man she saw before, there was nothing but Himari with purple veins extending from her neck down to her shoulder, the back of her heel sticky with blood, and a thin red mist that dissipated into the air just as fast as it arrived.
"Now then…" She huffed, almost like an athlete running four miles. "Where did Higa run off too?"