Chapter Text
It had barely been a month. A month since the incident, a month since the world fell apart. Outside, the city was quiet. There were no more busy streets or people running around. No people who were alive, anyway.
Yugi peeked out of the blinds, scanning the street below for any stray people wandering about. When he saw no one, he opened up the window and crawled out. He was running low on bottled water, and was hoping to find some while he was scrounging today. While he snuck down the street, the hand radio clipped to his belt let out a muffled rumble. He picked up the radio, turned up the volume, and asked, “Joey, was that you?”
The radio crackled again, and Joey’s voice poured through. “Ey, Yug, I found an empty supermarket! Well, it looks empty at least. Think we should check it out?”
“Maybe,” Yugi mused, “if it’s not already raided, it could be worth the risk. Still, even if it looks quiet, there might be infected hiding inside.”
“Yeah, but it could be our best bet for more food and water. I’m gonna check it out.”
“Wait for me so we can go in together. I would hate for something to happen and you be on your own.”
“Copy that, Yug! I’ll meet ya at the corner of Dooley and 3rd.”
And with that, the hand radio crackled before going silent once again. Yugi took a deep breath, beginning the trek to the center of town. It was a dangerous place to be- more than dangerous, but the boys were down to their last rations. Joey’s find might contain the only food and water they would get for weeks.
He snuck around buildings and travelled through the backways. He scanned the street, on constant alert for any shamblers. When he reached the corner of Dooley and 3rd, Yugi became uneasy. He couldn’t find Joey anywhere. The street was quiet, seriously quiet, and he didn’t want to spend too much time out in the open.
Far behind him, a creature shuffled. Yugi wasn’t paying enough attention, taking the time to get a drink from his water bottle. It hobbled closer, closer, and closer still. Its ragged breath was being forced from its marred and shaking chest. The sound of its dragging feet against the concrete was muffled. It had no shoes, and its clothes were shredded around the area of its stomach. Yugi only heard it once it was too late.
The boy turned around and was tackled by a zombie. The skin around its mouth was tattered and bleeding, its jagged teeth loose, yellowed, and shaking in the gums. Yugi held the creature back with as much strength as he could muster, but it wasn’t going to be enough. His arms trembled against the weight of the large zombie, and he did everything he could to not scream. Screaming would only attract more, and Yugi knew that. As the pair struggled against each other, Yugi kept looking around for something- anything- that would save him from the gruesome fate of being eaten, or worse, turned into another one of these creatures. But as the gnashing of the zombie’s jaws leaned closer, Yugi had no choice but to call for help.
“Joey!?” Yugi called. “Joey, please!” He pushed against the creature with everything he had, but in the end, the once-a-man was taller and stronger than him. It forced Yugi to the ground and leered over the boy. Yugi closed his eyes, his vision blurring with tears. “Joey! Help!” And just when the short boy was about to accept his fate,
CRACK!
The weight was taken off of him instantly. The zombie’s now limp body thudded onto the ground. The crack of its skull rang out once more. Yugi opened his eyes to see Joey Wheeler smashing in his attacker’s skull with his trusty baseball bat. The blond took swing after swing, never once stopping until the zombie quit twitching. His chest heaved, and he wiped some sweat from his face.
“Nobody messes with my best buddy!” He said, spitting on the corpse. He turned and held his hand out for Yugi. “Come on, Yug, we got a store to raid.” Yugi took his hand eagerly.
The front of the store looked alright, if a bit vandalized. Joey pushed the implications of the red spray paint screaming “THIS IS THE END” away, but he still held his bat at the ready. He looked down to his short friend, taking in a deep breath. He was so glad that “The Turning” happened while he was at Yugi’s house. There was no telling if they would have been together had he not.
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“The Turning” was what every news station was calling the event that happened on May 13th. It started off so normal, almost banal. In the months before, Joey had found himself getting interested in baseball. He would go to the practice games after school and just play for fun. On May 13th, Joey went over to Yugi’s place to relax and play some video games after one of his games got cut short due to rain. The two boys kicked back and ordered some pizza. Then, around 7:30, it happened.
A woman outside Yugi’s window screamed. Then another. Then another. Soon, outside the house was a cacophony of screaming and car alarms. Joey got up to take a look, and he saw zombies pouring through the streets. He blinked and took another look. It was no joke, and there was no movie crew. Real, undead, flesh eating creatures rampaged through the streets, grasping and eating anyone they could get their hands on.
A little girl cried across the street, holding the limp body of her mother. Two beasts found her and played a game of tug of war with her tiny body. They ripped her in two with impressive strength- far beyond normal human capacity. Joey almost threw up as he watched that girl’s left leg rip from the rest of her.
Yugi looked over at his friend. “What’s wrong, Joey?” He asked innocently.
“Yug… You need to see this.”
Rising from his relaxed position on the couch, Yugi approached the window and peeked out. He gasped. Women, men, and children alike sprinted in a panicked chaos- like ants whose hill was dug up with a trowel. Yugi focused on one woman in particular, she pepper sprayed one of the creatures, blinding it and trying to run. The wounded zombie wasn’t out for long, though. It had no sight, but it rushed forward, blindly grasping the air. The woman couldn’t jump out of the way in time and the creature grabbed her.
Yugi gaped in horror as the creature’s teeth tore into her sternum, ripping a seam of flesh from her chest all the way up her neck. Blood gurgled and popped in her throat. Her body hacked and spasmed, trying to breathe. The zombie then ripped into her shoulder, feasting on all the flesh and bone marrow it could get to. The woman drowned in her own blood and was going to be devoured, and all Yugi could do was watch.
Horror dawned on the boy. “Grandpa!” He shouted. His grandfather was still downstairs in the game shop. He needed to help barricade the doors and keep everybody safe.
Downstairs, his grandfather was already ahead of him. He had furniture holding the door back from the ravenous pounding and grasping from the zombies outside. They slammed their bloodied fists and hungry maws against the glass, putting the fear of one of the panes breaking into Yugi’s heart.
“Come on, boy!” The old man yelled. He grabbed Yugi and held him close, dragging him back upstairs. They slammed the door on the upstairs landing and barricaded it with everything they could find. Joey had come to see what had happened.
“Gramps! Are you doin’ okay?”
“I’m fine, Joseph.” He wheezed. “Just a couple nicks here and there.”
The couch groaned slightly under Gramps’ weight as he sat down. Yugi and Joey followed suit. The pounding against the glass and walls downstairs was unnerving, but Yugi tried to ignore it.
“What’s going on out there, Grandpa?” Yugi asked. The old man grunted in response.
“No idea. Everyone just started attacking one another. I think this has something to do with that new flu everyone’s been getting.”
The “flu” that people across the nation were getting was being reported on the news for over a week now. The disease was unlike anything microbiologists had ever seen, making people have seizures and bouts of psychosis. Neither Yugi nor Joey had kept up to date with the news, simply deciding to wear masks to school just in case.
“What happens to people with the flu?” Joey asked trepidatiously.
“It takes quite a while to become dangerous, but professionals say it can make you black out and lose control of yourself. It’s some sort of induced psychosis, and some of the patients can become seriously violent.
Seriously violent? Strange disease? Oh yeah, this was definitely a real life zombie apocalypse situation. Joey looked at Yugi, worry etched into his face. He’d always loved comic books and movies about zombies, but he would be a liar if he said he wasn’t scared of what real one might do.
Joey quickly gave Gramps the once over, stifling a gasp. There, on his hand, was a deep bite mark. The flesh was torn away and dribbles of blood escaped. If Joey was right about the zombie idea, this could only mean one thing.
“Yeah, maybe we should all just… chill out until the police get here?” He suggested. “I mean, they gotta show up to somethin’ like this, right?”
“I think we should stay together, just in case something happens.” Yugi said.
“Uhh, sure, but I gotta tell ya somethin’, Yugi. Uh, alone, if that’s okay.”
Gramps scratched around the bite mark on his hand absentmindedly, lounging back into the couch. In Yugi’s bedroom, the boys whispered.
“Yugi, I know you’re gonna call me crazy, but I think there’s something seriously wrong with Gramps.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I saw a bite mark on his hand! I hate to tell ya this, but if what I’m thinkin’ is happening is actually happening, that means he’s… He’s gonna turn…”
“...No way.” Yugi denied. “No… It can’t be a bite, right? Like, it’s probably just a random cut.”
“Yugi,” Joey grasped the boy’s shoulders, “I know what I saw. I would never lie about this, dude.”
Tears welled up in both of their eyes. Yugi’s spilled over and he grasped Joey’s coat with a grip that hurt his hands. “No way… There’s no way… Please tell me there’s no way.”
There was nothing to say. Joey held his friend in his arms. “Let’s hope I’m wrong…”
The three men waited in the living room for hours. On the TV, there was news about a rampant mass hysteria taking over not just Japan, but the rest of the world as well. Virologists were quickly working to find some sort of treatment or cure, but until it was widely available, people were urged to stay in their homes and never let anyone in. The entire world was going into quarantine, and there was nothing anyone could do about it.
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Joey cleared his mind of the events that led him to this: scrounging for food and water like an animal. He needed to focus if he and Yugi were going to make it out of this together. Looking down at Yugi, he smiled faintly. He had always said that if he were to be in a zombie apocalypse, he’d want to go out fighting with his best friend by his side- and here they were.
The store was left in complete disarray; shelves were turned over, products were busted open on the floor, and blood was smeared across the back wall. Yugi motioned to Joey to stay quiet and keep his bat ready. Pulling a hunting knife from his backpack, Yugi crept around the corners of the aisles. Joey went the opposite direction, but kept just as much caution while inspecting the place. As far as they could tell, nobody had been here for a good while. The boys met up at the lone cash register, speaking in a hushed tone despite the apparent lack of life.
“The can aisle is completely empty. I didn’t check anywhere else yet.” Joey whispered.
Yugi nodded in response. “We should look for dried foods too. Things like pasta, beans, and rice. Y’know, stuff that keeps.”
“I’ll be on the lookout for a good cookin’ pot too.” Joey added. “Can’t have rice without hot water.”
Joey turned and was about to set off when Yugi grabbed his coat. “Let’s stick together, Joey. I don’t like the vibe of this place.”
The boys wandered through the remnants of the store together, stuffing whatever dried and canned goods that were left behind in their bags. Joey picked up a small cooking pot as well, but, having no space in his bag for it, he clipped it to his belt. They were almost done scavenging when something in the back of the store crashed to the ground. Yugi and Joey froze.
“Help… me…” Somebody groaned. “Please… someone…”
Joey readied his bat and rushed to find the injured person. The door to the back flew open, revealing a woman’s body crawling across the floor. She was dressed in an employee uniform, hair disheveled and caked with blood.
“Please… please help me…” She begged. Joey looked at her, noting the mass amounts of bite marks in her flesh. She was coughing, spitting up viscous mucus. Blood dripped from her nose and leaked from her skin. She was turning. Joey could have cried watching that woman. She pulled herself closer to his boots, pleading with him for assistance. The light in her eyes was quickly fading.
“I’m so sorry, ma’am, but there’s not much I can do for ya.” He muttered. “I’m so sorry.”
The woman stopped short as he apologized. She broke down in tears as the weight of the realization that she couldn’t be helped set in. “...Kill me…” She whispered. When she got no response, she repeated louder, “Kill me! Please! I don’t want to become a monster… please, kill me. Those things can smell each other, they can sense when there are more nearby. I don’t want them to… to smell me and put you in danger. Just make it quick… please.”
That sentence was all it took to rob a tear from Joey’s eye. He looked down at his bat, playing with the weight of it a bit more. “I can do that for ya, ma’am.”
“Thank… you…”
Yugi approached the scene, holding his knife to his chest. Joey’s back was turned to him as he raised the metal bat high into the air.
“Joey, wait!” Yugi shouted, but it was too late.
A resounding CRACK filled the back of the store as Joey crunched her skull beneath his tool. He hit her in the head again and again, not stopping until he was sure she was dead. The boy wept, tears blurring his vision and mixing with the blood on the floor. It was done. The woman was dead, just as she wanted.
Yugi tried to place a comforting hand on Joey’s shoulder, but the blond pulled away. “Let’s take what we got and get out of here, Yug.” He spat. “If she got bit out here then that means there might be more around.”
Yugi swallowed, his throat painfully constricted as he tried not to cry. “Sure, Joey. Let’s go back home.”
Rationally, Yugi knew that you couldn’t save everyone. He knew that in this kind of situation, it’s kill or be killed. But, that didn’t mean it didn’t hurt. That didn’t mean that watching his friend beat a poor, dying woman to death wasn’t scary. He knew that Joey was hurting- even though he was trying not to show it. Silently, Yugi wished for all of this to blow over, for a cure to be found, and for all his friends to be safe. He had already lost Grandpa… He couldn’t bear to lose anyone else.
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Teá had tried every number in her phone; nobody was picking up. She sat in her bedroom, wasting away while the thumping at her door only grew louder. Her parents had already been infected, and now their rotting bodies were beating against the doorframe. They absently groaned and fiddled with the locked doorknob.
For the last week and a half, Teá had been cowering in her room. The endless thumping of her dead parents against the door robbing her of sleep and threatening to drive her insane. She told them it was dangerous to go out. She had seen the news clips and the quickly spreading internet videos of dangerous monsters, bleeding from every orifice and ripping people limb from limb. She had seen everything happening in real time, but they didn’t listen.
Things were still relatively normal then. The stores were open for very limited hours and had strict capacity limits in place to minimize the spread of the infection. The scientists didn’t have a name for the infection, insisting that this would all be over soon because they were working on a treatment. American netizens were calling it “The Red Death” after the short story by Poe. Her father insisted that it would only be a quick trip to the store to get more supplies. He didn’t make it back unscathed, and his small scratch quickly inflamed and turned into gushing sores that spread across his body. Once The Turning happened, her mother was quick to join the army of the undead.
Teá watched in horror as her father turned, as he groaned and foamed at the mouth, blood leaking from his pores. She watched him tackle her mother, gnawing on her arms and devouring her meat chunk by chunk. She ran to her room, closing the door, locking it, and praying. That was the first time in her life she had ever prayed to God- whatever god there was. Since then, her parents’ walking corpses had been lightly thumping against the door. Sometimes they groan and gurgle or fumble with the knob, but they can’t seem to break their way in. That, or something in them doesn’t want to.
The poor girl was trapped. Sure, the internet was still working, but who could she contact that could help her? Her friends hardly checked their e-mails, and none of them had cell phones yet. She rang everybody’s house multiple times, begging for an answer. Nothing. She was either going to starve to death in her room, or her parents would finally break in and make her into a meal. Neither option seemed ideal.
Her stomach let out a desperate gurgle, begging to be filled. She needed to eat sooner rather than later. Finally, in a desperate haze, she called the only person she could think that would answer.
“Come on, come on…” She mumbled as the phone rang. When the call picked up, she screamed with delight.
“You’ve reached Mokuba Kaiba, how can I help you?” She heard Mokuba’s voice answer. There was some fumbling on the other line before the man himself picked up.
“Seto Kaiba. What do you want?” His cold and callous tone normally pissed her off, but today Teá couldn’t be happier to hear it.
“Kaiba! Oh thank god someone answered. Are you in a safe place?”
“What kind of question is that? Who am I speaking with?”
“It’s Teá! Teá Gardener, uh, Yugi’s friend? Look, I’ve been calling everyone and I can’t get a hold of anyone else. I need help.” Quietly, she added, “Please?”
The line went silent for a long minute, and Teá’s heart beat in her throat. She swallowed thickly and was about to repeat herself when:
“Where are you?” He sighed. Teá took a quick moment to pump her fist in the air and let out a silent “YES!”
“I’m at my house, I’ll text you the address. I’m really sorry to ask for this with everything going on, but my parents… They, uhh…”
“Should I take precautions?”
“Definitely. Thank you so much for this, Kaiba, I promise I’ll make it up to you somehow!”
“Whatever, Gardener. I’m letting you know now that if I see any sign of infection in you, I’m dumping you out onto the street.”
Tea sent the address and thanked whatever god she had prayed to. She rushed around her room, filling a backpack with everything she thought she would need. She crept to the window and silently watched, waiting for Kaiba to come.
Kaiba hung up his phone and pinched the bridge of his nose. Great, now he had a member of the geek squad to look after. He knew he shouldn’t be doing this; letting an untrusted person into his safehouse was a recipe for disaster. Still, it weighed on his conscience a little to leave Téa for dead. As much as he hated to admit it, Mokuba and the geeks were the only people he had any sort of close, personal relationship with. Kaiba silently wondered if he could find Yugi and the mutt out there too.
“Who was it?” Mokuba asked.
Seto sighed. “Téa Gardener.”
“Téa’s alive!?” Bouncing around the room, Mokuba gathered what he thought he would need to go out and packed it in a large backpack. A cold hand gripped Mokuba’s shoulder and Seto gave him a deadly stare.
“You aren’t going.” He said.
Mokuba scoffed. “She’s my friend too! I’ve been so worried about her and all the others, please just let me help.”
Seto wrenched the backpack away from his younger brother, holding it up above his head. He put the backpack on top of a bookcase and left to prepare for the rescue mission he was about to pull. Seto stopped in the doorway, looking back at Mokuba.
“I’m serious, Mokuba. Do not try to come with me. I want you here where you’re safe.”
Mokuba crossed his arms in annoyance. “Fine.” He said.
Seto suited up in thick cotton layers and kevlar. He kept his signature leather pants and boots, of course. (Just because the world was ending didn’t mean that fashion had to die with it.) The clicking and clinking of the 9mm pistol in his hand could barely be heard through his earplugs, and he only hoped he wouldn’t need to use it. On his hip, he carried a fire axe. The weapon was quiet and reliable for taking out one or two infected at a time. He reserved the gun and its ammo for emergencies only.
The keypad on the wall beeped softly as Seto punched in the code to unlock the doors to the safehouse. As the doors opened with a pneumatic hiss, Seto pulled on a gas mask. Nobody knew if this infection was airborne or not, but it was better to be safe than sorry.
The safehouse was at the west end of the city buried deep underground. Seto found out about it a few years prior, apparently Gozaburo Kaiba had a sort of bomb shelter prepared and stocked with all manner of canned goods, weapons, water, and more. The only problem that Seto noticed was that there was only one entrance. He didn’t think it would matter much; Himself, Mokuba, and Roland were the only ones who knew the bunker’s location and lock code.
Seto trudged up the steep stairs to the surface, already regretting his decision to save Téa. He knew that the geek squad was a package deal, so by promising her sanctuary he had also promised Yugi, the mutt, and the other guy the same. Surviving the apocalypse with Yugi didn’t sound so bad, but Wheeler? He sighed, opening a hatch.
The floor behind the cash register of a small, worn down, barricaded up pizza shop opened upwards with a creek. Seto crawled out and shut the metal hatch behind him. Broken glass and upended tables littered the floor, and the windows only let in thin streams of light between the wooden boards nailed over them. The air was thick and musty; the dust in the air catching the light as it swirled through the building.
Quietly, he opened the front door’s deadbolt. There was, seemingly, no one around. Seto snuck around to the back of the building and wrangled his bicycle out from behind the pile of garbage he hid it with. Doing one last surrounding check to make sure the streets were empty, Seto took off.