Chapter Text
Fushiguro Megumi slowly opened his eyes, swallowing back the saliva that pooled in his mouth whilst he was asleep. Adjusting himself to lean against his father— Fushiguro Toji, Megumu felt his fathers arm wrapped around himself and the other, probably around his sister, Fushiguro Tsumiki.
Megumi pushed himself up with his forearms to see the fresh snow that held to the edges of the parking garage. The car was freezing despite the blankets the three wrapped around themselves, the door was cracked to keep circulation going, the car couldn’t turn on anymore.
The young boy laid back down and looked at his father, then to his sister. His father was awake, looking at the ceiling of the car, a photo hung from a tac Toji poked into the ceiling.
The photo was from the year before in September, they had gone out to the creek, the children’s mother held them tightly with a bright smile on her face, Toji was submerged in the water, laughing.
His wife was mauled to death during the incident on December 24th. The rest of the Fushiguro family ended up in a parking garage outside of Tokyo, there was a community in Tokyo but it wasn’t much better than scavenging for your own food and shelter. Ration cards that didn’t get you enough for the week, you split an apartment with 6 other people and you can’t leave— legally, not that anyone could do anything about it once you were gone.
Toji looked down at Megumi and the elder smiled, “Morning.”
“Hey.” Megumi sat up and tugged the blanket towards himself, uncovering Tsumiki.
“Your sisters still sleeping, stop.” Toji yanked the blanket back onto Tsumiki.
Megumi grumbled and crawled away from his family, curling up in the corner of the trunk.
“Megs, come back, we’ll get up soon, we need more food anyway, you two can come with.”
“Actually? We can come?” Megumi smiled slightly at the sound of that.
“Yeah.” Toji pulled the blanket for some room for his son and they laid back down.
The sun was shining directly in their faces when they got out of the car. Tsumiki dressed herself and Megumi whilst Toji scoped the area for alive deads.
When Toji came back clear, they made their way down and out of the parking garage. Megumi had barely been outside of the parking garage, Toji was scared of losing his kids after his wife. Tsumiki could tell that Toji was going a little crazy though, he would stay up all night just staring at her and Megumi.
Breaking the young girls thought, Toji lifted both her and Megumi up into his arms.
“Stay close.” He whispered.
Tsumiki smiled and hugged wrapped her arms around Tojis neck. Megumi burrowed his face against Tojis chest, the bright snow made it hard to see, especially because Megumi hadn’t been outside of the parking garage since they got there, he wasn’t tall enough to look over the barrier of the garage either.
The three walked for a while until Tsumiki fussed to get down, not even a block later, Megumi was fussing to get down as well. Tsumiki held Megumis hand tightly as Toji walked through the abandoned stores, killing any undeads with ease.
Toji grinned as he saw a store with food on the shelves. “C’mon, quick.” He rushed them to the store, entering through some broken glass.
Tsumiki tried running Megumi along but his legs couldn’t go that fast. Megumi tripped and landed in the snow. As Tsumiki tried to get her brother up, she heard yelling from the store and gunshots firing through the window.
An undead croaked and started running for the children, Tsumiki shoved Megumi up and they tried running into the store where Toji was.
The undead grabbed at the girl and started wailing on her body, Megumi backed away slowly, her cries and screams attacking his eardrums until Tsumiki was no longer breathing.
Megumi heard two more gunshots blast from his left, the young boys ears were ringing so hard his head started pounding and he started to cry.
Someone walked to Megumi and slowly picked him up. Megumi couldn’t help but lean into the touch, no matter who it was, the young boy was placed over the mans shoulder and Megumi watched as his sisters body moved and shifted towards Megumi.
Megumi tried to struggle away from the man and noticed white hair, his father didn’t have grey hair, let alone white hair.
The boy let out a soft gasp and his eyes widened as he tried to look at the mans face.
A meek voice came into hearing range, “Who are you?”
The older man adjusted the younger boy for them to see each others faces, “I’m Gojo Satoru, you’re Megumi?”
Megumi nodded silently and looked at Gojos face before laying back against him.
Gojo contemplated with himself, should he just leave the kid? The kid didn’t seem very skilled or anything but he looked to be three years old and was now—severely traumatized. Gojo shanked his father or whatever he was to death, a zombie killed his sister and would’ve gotten Megumi if Gojo wasn’t there. The kid surely would die if Gojo didn’t protect him, maybe the kid could be useful at some point.
Megumi napped against Gojo and Gojo tracked through the snow, he walked into a store and grabbed a puzzle to do whilst he was bored and waiting for the sun to set. The older man walked into an office building, walked up the stairs to a couch and settled in.
He laid Megumi on the cushion, set up his zombie traps and started on his puzzle. Megumi started to stir a few moments after he was laid down. The boy sat up and gazed at Gojo before remembering his sister, his father.
Megumi crawled off the couch and sat next to Gojo. The white haired man looked at Megumis face and smiled a little.
“You like puzzles?”
Megumi looked at the table and shrugged.
“Then come and help.” Gojo chuckled and watched as Megumi tried to help Gojo with the puzzle— the kid actually put together a few things, the sun went down before the boys could finish it.
“Good job, Megs.”
Megumi went quiet again and Gojo picked the boy up and they laid down together. The nights were always the coldest part, it was silent instead of the old Tokyo where some sort of background noise was always present. Plus, Gojo remembered who he had to leave behind during the first wave, who left him behind— he swore he wouldn’t do anything like that again, but he was here with a kid.
Whatever, he couldn’t change what he did.
When Megumi woke up, eleven years had passed and he barely remembered anything. He remembered his sister briefly, not her face or anything but she was kind and warm. Nothing from his father or his mother either. As far as Megumi was concerned, Gojo was his family, his father, his brother and his friend.
Satoru grinned and pointed to the map, “Look, I’m pretty sure we’re in the Kobe area, probably a few more winters and we’re at Hiroshima.”
Megumi rolled his eyes. “Maybe you can rename it Gojo Land.”
The older man grinned widely and grabbed Megumi in his elbow, “Now you’re speaking my language, Megs.”
Megumi shoved Gojo off with an annoyed smile. “This is good hunting land, stop here?”
Gojo looked around and nodded, unloading his rifle from his shoulder. “Mm.”
Megumi held his pistol against his thigh and they lowered to start getting a meal for the day. Gojo waited until a bunny came into view, taking the shot, the animal let out this high pitched sob before dropping dead. Satoru got up and walked to the animal.
“Looks like we have some rabbit stew tonight, what vegetables do you think are around here?” Gojo grinned as he gently picked up the small corpse.
There was no response, no noise of confirmation either, Gojo looked around and couldn’t find Megumi.
“Megs?” Gojo walked around curiously, getting more urgent with his callings. He looked around and let out a short gasp when he was suddenly stabbed in the gut from the back, a hand came up to silence him, he tried to struggle but he could feel himself losing it before his vision faded.
Just moments before Gojo shot the rabbit, Megumi got tripped and shoved into the snow. An unknown person wrapping rough hands around the teens neck, while the younger struggled, the snow buried him deeper, fingertips started poking into his jugular and airway simultaneously. Being filled with adrenaline didn’t mean shit when you can’t catch your breath.
Megumi tried his best but he fell to the pressure.