Chapter Text
They had documented it. Rather, Momoi had documented it. The rest of them didn't really bother. Akashi did not stop her, however. Then again, this is Akashi, and Akashi thinks every piece of information is vital. So into the notebook it went.
Type: Slow walker (?)
Companion: None/not in sight (?)
Physical appearance: Unclear, black cloak, wear from use, hair drenched red with presumably dried blood, bandaged (?), half of its face seems to have been bitten off; covered in guts but all limbs are attached; might have been traveling to the Teikou refugee area when attacked judging by it's supplies.
Special notes: none so far; doesn't seem to have much awareness to its surroundings, possible enhanced physical strength and hearing; blind (judging by the way its walking); all traits when turned presented; easy kill.
Belongings: an empty backpack, supplies might have been sneaked away by survivals.
“So, do we off it or not? Quick kill, take what's left and we're done,” Aomine had asked disinterestedly.
“I don't know if we should even bother. There are plenty of supplies and resources already. We'll just be wasting bullets and effort on this one. It might be carrying some goods, but I don't think it's worth it. What do you think, Akashi?” Momoi said slowly. It was true, said walker didn't seem to pose much of a threat by any means. Another lesser group could easily take care of the job if there ever comes the need to. It was a slow walker.
Akashi assessed Momoi's words along with his own speculations, by the look of it. Most of the times, no one actually knows what his speculations are. But the way he calmly gathers his belongings from the camp they had set up the night before, they could throw one or two wild guesses.
“Momoi's right. We don't need to waste our resources. Leave it be for now. The plan was to head over to Seirin, scout the area, and do some cleaning up. Gather your things. We'll leave in five minutes. And-” he pauses, contemplating god knows what, staring at lord knows who, “If we cross paths again, we'll take care of any unfinished business then. I look forward to it,” he said to the now empty spot the zombie once stood.
Well, that's interestingly terrifying. Usually Akashi is a calm and collected guy, just like your run of the mill capable, almost too perfect leader– albeit lacking a sense of humour some(most of the)times. Everyone is perfectly content as long as he isn't slaughtering anyone for that matter. So it comes as a fair warning of plenty zombie bloodshed whenever Akashi is looking forward to anything.
Aomine tried his best to appear mildly worried. For the most part, he doesn't succeed. As long as there are less zombies on Earth, and Momoi is not in any immediate danger traveling with them, he really could not careless.
Momoi might have been more concerned than she looked. Despite so, she kept her calm. Besides, while she can't stand the first sight of blood, gore, or anything zombie related, she trusts her own group to make the right decisions. May be not all of them, mostly Akashi, and that's enough to keep them alive. Therefore, she rarely has any extra input.
Kise simply laughed it off. Sometimes it seems he cares more about not having scars on his preciously handsome face rather than actually protecting his companions. Regardless, he is skilled at what he does, and he respects everyone else, so there is no fear he might just turn his heels on them and run the other direction in time of peril, probably.
Midorima might have had an input or thirty-five, considering he knows Akashi the most. By that logic, he is also the one who understands how unbearable Akashi can be when he has set his mind on something. Thus, another tally mark on Momoi's ongoing list of things that went unsaid by Midorima.
Murasakibara is Murisakiraba. He eats; he sleeps; he kills; he eats some more; rinse and repeat. His hair is unreasonably well kept in a zombie apocalypse and Momoi is jealous.
In the end, Akashi is in charge of this peculiar group of misfits, they have to deal with whatever he throws at them, he has to deal with whatever they throw at him, and so thank God it's Akashi. Momoi would rather not think about the idiotic things Aomine might have gotten himself into if they hadn't joined Akashi and his scouting missions. In actuality, “joined” is a kind word; “got picked up along the way by Akashi” sounds more plausible to Momoi. But it puts too much of a dent on Aomine's pride that one time Momoi used it, so she avoids the word altogether, in front of Aomine, at least.
So that was that. They didn't question him. They couldn't.
Up he went and up they followed.
Which is why they could only gape at him now as the familiar silhouette they saw four days ago was casually zombie-ing its way down Main Street in the Seirin Zone.
“Now can I kill it?” Aomine thrusts the full magazine into his silenced semi-auto handgun and aims.
“Sure. If it doesn't kill us first.”
“Wha-”
And Kise screams at the furry creature leaping straight for his face.
They had approximately no time to assess the situation at hand. Before Momoi knew it, she had been lifted up by the waist in Aomine's big strong arms and scurried away.
The screeching of the track machine is earsplitting annoying when combined with Kise's.
Of course, she has more to worry about at the moment, such as the confirmed walking dead lurking somewhere within a three-meter radius of the group, specifically the radius around Momoi and Aomine. She has an unpleasant hunch that it might be targeting directly at her. Perhaps its senses decided she was the weakest of the bunch. She scoffs at the thought. (Sure, she is the weakest of them, but that's because they are monster of their own. Momoi herself could put ten extra holes into a sack of flesh within record time with arguably accuracy if she were to desire for it. Lucky for her, she does not have to execute such a task often thanks to the capable hands of her team.)
Before she could turn off the device in her hand to make their whereabouts less obvious, (she hopes Kise would shut up soon. Whatever clinging to his face sure is persistent), Aomine came to a sudden halt. Momoi cursed as she clung to the tracker. She was ready to reprimand him when she noticed the familiar figure in front of them. The screeching is unbearable as time seemed to stop. Aomine's hand twitched dangerously with his gun glinting in the dark. He had dropped her to the ground as soon as they stopped but she had no time to complain because Daiki was focused. They understood too fast that whatever they're dealing with was not, in the least, a slow zombie.
It broke into a sprint straight at Momoi and gun shots resounded in the vacant space.
It was definitely not a slow zombie.
She was not even sure if it was a zombie if not for the half of its eaten face came too close to her own. She barely noticed the glint of light in its eyes as it pressed a knife close to Aomine's throat while effectively knocked the tracker out of her hand onto the hard asphalt ground.
The group had split up earlier as they could manage just fine on their own, but now, after two and a half years under Akashi's command, Momoi finally thought may be splitting up at all in any given situations might not be the best of ideas. She had watched those old vintage horror shows like The Walking Dead, scoffed at those people rendered helpless alone, and remembered she had been trained for these kind of unexpected situations.
The zombie had the decency to look humanly surprised as she lunged a knife hidden in her sleeves straight between its eyes after Aomine successfully shielded his throat with ease of practice and rendered it motionless on the ground, face up, within three seconds flat. Before she could plant the knife into its forehead, though, it recovers quickly. With Aomine's head now between its thighs which had broken free of his grip, the hooded zombie used its strength and the momentum of the force put upon it to throw Aomine straight on top of Momoi. While they were busy untangling from each other, the zombie grabbed the tracker and ran away as abruptly as when it appeared before them. It later came regrettably late to Momoi that it was not her it was targeting, it was the tracker.
“THAT. Whatever it was, was definitely not a zombie,” Aomine said somewhere between untangling himself from Momoi and helping her to her feet again.
“Agree.”
Akashi also agreed as he waited for the figure at the floor above, where a plank of wood had been strategically placed connected to the building next to theirs.
“It would make perfect sense to wait for you downstairs, where logically one would run to escape. I did tell Midorima and Murasakibara to wait there, just in case. But it makes much more sense to use the fire escape conveniently right between the two buildings to sneak your way up above us and then drop down, taking unsuspecting hunters by surprise instead of walking straight into their front door, don't you think, Mr. Zombie?" Akashi mused.
"Kise did a good job at keeping that pup of yours distracted. Now, would you kindly return what you took from our dear Momoi?” The last question didn't quite come out as a request.
The not-Zombie seemed unfazed by the turn of events, Akashi noticed. If he was slightly annoyed, he did not show it.
“So, what's it going to be, Mr. Zombie? It seems my team is arriving. If you want to run, now would be a good time with only me to deal with. You went through so much trouble this morning to just get our tracker, after all.”
Mr. Zombie stiffened where he stood. Akashi can feel eyes boring right through him and wondered to himself what colours they might be.
“Loss of a tracker is not that big of a deal. But gaining something that excels in both physical and mental intelligent, which the tracker had identified as an infected is so much more rewarding, don't you think?”
Much to his credit, the hooded figure in front of him reacted much fast than he had anticipated.
But Midorima never missed.
A needle in the left calf filled with anesthetic that could put out a fully grown man within seconds clearly was not enough to knock this walker down the floor, but it was enough, judging by the visible swaying and slight loss of balance. Akashi decided it was time to make his move. So did his opponent as it dodged Akashi's on coming attack by clumsily rolling to the side, narrowly escaped the electrically charged blade Akashi had been carrying on his back. The anesthetic was taking its toll, Akashi noted, evidently with the ragged display of breathing, clearly struggling to control its own movements.
“I would prefer taking you unscathed. But if immobilizing you with a limb or two, I wouldn't mind too much either. It is your choice.”
In the distance, Akashi could here the signals of all his team units in placed, and so did the walker. They had it cornered, the only thing left is to take it either by forced with its last display of struggle, or wait until the anesthetic to kick in fully and pick up the body. Either way, everything was as Akashi had planned. It was tricky to lay the plan down to all of them with Kise screeching in everyone's ears, but it was not impossible. Containing the pup proved to be a challenge, but Kise managed.
Everything was according to plan, except one thing.
The walker started speaking.
“You humans, always so irritating.”
It was a low and soft groan, barely audible. Akashi thought it sounded nice anyway before he had to shield himself from an onslaught of red sharp crystals coming out of nowhere directed at him. His team was startled; Murasakibara was ready to intervene if he deem the situation dangerous. Akashi gestured for them to stand down as he melted the crystals to the ground. He thought the stench was familiar, it was the smell of blood. Something popped and dropped to the ground in front of him. Through the eyes he had trained with great intensity, he managed to make out a blood bag between the walker's lips behind the wall of crystalized blood rain aiming at him.
“This was supposed to be my emergency ration too,” Akashi chuckled from how exasperated this walker sounded.
Everything went crimson red.
“That went well.”
Momoi threw a pillow at Aomine's face.
“Yes, I suppose it did.”
Midorima considered throwing a pillow at Akashi's face as he treated his wounds.
For all the red it had painted, the Walker's eyes were a brilliant shade of glistening sky blue.