Archive of Our Own

Chapter Text

Day 8 of the Apocalypse

Day 8. A little over a week. It was a beautiful late summer day. Hinata remembered it being warm and sunny, and he’d already looked forward to cycling around town, meeting some of the people he hadn’t seen in a while. If someone had told him eight days ago that zombies were going to run the place now, he’d have laughed in their face. Zombies obviously weren’t real. When Hinata was younger, he’d sometimes scare his little sister with them - “If you don’t go to bed soon, the zombies will come and find you.” It seemed macabre to him now.

The day itself was a blur to him. From being on his bike to ending up where he was now, he could recall only bits of these few hours. Everything had happened so fast. The day was straight out of a nightmare. But this nightmare was real, and looking around made it impossible for him to escape his new reality.

Hinata reached into his pockets. It was still there. He pulled out the only remaining thing he was able to keep from his old, normal life. The object was light in his hand and a bit dirty from the time he’d dropped it. Stopping to get it back was objectively a stupid decision, but something in him had refused to give up even this part of him, so his body had moved on its own, relying purely on adrenaline and determination. Hinata turned the object around. There was some dirt staining the light colored surface, but the Omamori was still intact. It was still there. He could still hold it and feel the weight of it in his hand. Had Hinata known about the zombies before, he’d have brought more than a simple Omamori. Unfortunately, that was the problem with zombies. You didn’t know they were coming. Hinata put the Omamori back into his pocket. He would keep it there, hoping it would protect him in the future as it had eight days ago when he'd made it to this place.

"Hinata!" A voice reached his ears. “Could you quickly help us here?” Right. Hinata had been zoning out again. He was usually not doing that, but he’d been trying to piece together what had happened, where the zombies came from, what he could do… He only got a headache from all the thinking. Zombies didn’t make sense. There was no logical explanation behind them. Or there might be one, but he’d have to be a genius to figure it out, and he simply wasn’t.

Before he got lost in his thoughts again, Hinata ran to the person who called him. He had first met the man, Daichi, when the apocalypse broke out. He’d looked familiar, but Hinata was pretty sure they’d never talked before the apocalypse happened. Daichi was nice though. He always had an idea of what they could do, and he checked in on every single one of them whenever he wasn’t occupied with something else. Hinata found it hard to believe that Daichi knew as much about the apocalypse as the rest of them. How else was he so composed and reasonable all the time? Hinata lost his mind at least once a day.

Next to Daichi stood Sugawara. Hinata would guess he was the same age as Daichi. They got along well, considering they’d only met each other a week ago. Suga was similarly reasonable as Daichi, but at least he freaked out sometimes too. Hinata didn’t fully understand their dynamic yet, but he was glad they became friends.

Currently, they were holding up a construct of chairs that were blocking the door. The chairs reached up to the top of the doorframe. “Can you take my place? I want to try to stack one more chair. Then we should be safe enough”, Daichi explained, and Hinata wordlessly took his place. The chairs were stable on their own, but with Suga and him holding them in place, Daichi could easily stack another one on top of them without worrying about their entire construct collapsing. Daichi lifted the chair and stood on his tiptoes to place it above the others. At first, it wobbled a bit, but when Daichi retreated to check his work, the chair stayed in place.

Suga stepped back. “Good job. If they can break the door and make it through this, they would have to be superhumans.”

“They’re zombies. Who knows what they can and can’t do?” Hinata remarked. In the movies he’d liked to watch before all of this happened, there were always some zombies who could do these things.

“It seems unlikely. Remember the ones from two days ago? They couldn’t get through this door even without the barricade.” Daichi was probably right. Unfortunately, he’d brought up the incident two days ago. Since the ground floor had looked empty and untouched, they’d assumed the whole school would be safe. So when Daichi and Suga wanted to venture up to the first floor, the shock on their faces was evident when they were suddenly chased by three zombies. No one knew why there were zombies here or why they hadn’t attacked them immediately when they realized there were humans in the buildings. Tsukishima, some smart guy with glasses, had said that the zombies must’ve been on the second or third floor, and they hadn’t noticed them because they were too far away to hear anything.

That sounded plausible, so Hinata decided to believe that theory. Neither Daichi nor Suga had gotten hurt. They weren’t too far from the staircase, so they could run back and slam the door right into the faces of the undead creatures before any of them could even try to bite them. The shock still sat deep. There were zombies in the one place they’d deemed safe, the one space they’d allowed themselves to relax in. Hence, the barricade now. They’d already barricaded the front door, but since the incident, they’d barricaded every door that led somewhere else in the school.

Being stuck in a school wasn’t the worst thing. They had access to snacks and water due to vending machines (Kageyama hit them open with his axe), and they’d found some medical emergency kits. They wouldn’t do much against zombie bites, but Suga had gotten hurt on a fence when they were fleeing, and with the help of the med kit, he’d been patched up quickly. They slept on chairs they pushed together, and on couches the school itself had put into the main room.

“I opened the other vending machine near the back door.” Kageyama came back with a backpack full of snacks, water, and even soda. Snacks and sodas had been part of Hinata’s daily life, but now they were a luxury. He’d never take any food for granted again.

“Opened is a really nice term…”, Hinata mumbled, to which Kageyama turned around and scowled at him. “Did you say something?”

“No, no, not at all. Great job”, Hinata said and gave a simple thumbs up. Kageyama was…weird. He wasn’t necessarily unkind or anything like that, but he was always in a bit of a mood. He didn’t talk much, and Hinata was a bit creeped out by his attitude at first. By now, he’d accepted that this was simply who Kageyama was. Besides, he wasn’t all bad. When they weren’t arguing, they had conversations about volleyball. Hinata never thought he’d find someone who could match his passion in the middle of an apocalypse, but Kageyama was as much into volleyball as he was. They’d talk into the middle of the night, the conversations only getting interrupted by one of them falling asleep. It took Hinata back to the time when volleyball was all he was thinking about. His number one priority in life. With Kageyama around, he could relive some of the memories and feel more normal about their current situation. The conversations also helped against boredom, because at the end of the day, there was only so much one could do on the ground floor of a high school.

“There are no more med kits left.” With this statement, the last two members of their group entered the room. Tsukishima and Yamaguchi were together all the time. When they were assigned to search the school today, they decided to go together. As they always did. Hinata assumed they were like that because they’d known each other long before the apocalypse had started and thus trusted each other blindly. They hadn’t spoken much about their background to any of them, but they must have been best friends for years or something similar to that.

Suga hummed. “Thought so. But we have five of them. Unless someone is bleeding out on the floor, we should be able to treat normal injuries.” The mention of bleeding out made goosebumps appear on Hinata’s skin. They were truly lucky none of them had gotten seriously hurt so far.

“Good thing we’re in a school and classrooms need to have med kits”, Daichi added. They’d been searching for the infirmary on their second day of being in the school, but no luck on that. It was probably on another floor. The school was quite large after all.

Yamaguchi spoke up. “What about food and water?” While Hinata had labeled Tsukishima as a smart but rather rude person, he wasn’t too sure what to make of Yamaguchi. He contributed and did whatever was required of him, but he and Hinata had never talked alone so far, so it was hard to judge his character.

“I opened the second vending machine. It wasn’t fully stocked, but we have some snacks and mostly soda, but there’s some water too.” Kageyama took everything out of his backpack. It was something, but for six people it wouldn’t suffice for long.

“We’ll have to go back out there eventually”, Tsukishima said and pushed up his glasses.

“I know.” Daichi sighed. The day they’d have to leave their safe space would come at some point; they all knew it. “I just hoped it wouldn’t be so soon.”

“Are there still zombies outside?”Yamaguchi asked.

They had covered almost every window just in case, but left one specifically for Suga to check for zombies directly outside of the school. Looking through it was scary - Hinata had seen a zombie once or twice, and since then, he’d avoided the window as much as he could. But Suga spent minutes, sometimes even hours there to figure out what was going on outside.

“Yes. There are some, but there aren’t hordes of them. They probably can’t hear or smell us here, and simply assume there are no humans left”, Suga explained.

“When it all started, lots of people were in the center. My guess is that’s where the zombies are now too.” Tsukishima made sense again. He really was smart.

“So going down there would put us at huge risk”, Daichi added. The convenience store and the supermarket were both located in and around the center. If all the zombies had gathered there, the entire group would be dead meat if they messed up even the slightest.

“We could try to hunt around here?”, Kageyama suggested. Hinata eyed the axe Kageyama had placed in the corner. Smashing parts of a vending machine was one thing, but could Kageyama actually hunt something down with it?

Daichi nodded. “There would be fewer zombies, but…”

Tsukishima interrupted. “Do you even know anything about hunting?

If looks could kill, Tsukishima would’ve dropped dead on the floor. Even when Hinata had pissed Kageyama off, he hadn’t looked that offended. “It can’t be that difficult. I’ll figure it out. Unless you have a better idea?”

This made Tsukishima shut up for now. There were only these two options: go out to hunt or try to raid the supermarket. Hinata preferred the first one only because it meant fewer or maybe even no (if they were lucky) zombie interactions.

“We could try to go to a nearby town?”Yamaguchi proposed after several moments of silence.

“I don’t know. We have no idea what is going on around us. We don’t even really know if the zombies went to the center. Maybe they left completely. Maybe they’re already waiting for us near the school. I think going to another town would be too dangerous”, Suga shared.

There was no perfect solution. They all stood there quietly. Hinata wished he could contribute something, wished he could somehow come up with a solution that would guarantee them both food and water. He paced around the room. There had to be something. They couldn’t just die here… He had to find Natsu. He had to find his parents. They were waiting for him, so Hinata couldn’t give up now.

Daichi’s voice interrupted the silence that had filled the room a second time. “We should have a vote. We still have some food left, so let’s decide this now and then come up with a plan in the next few days.” No one argued against that.

“Who votes for hunting?” Kageyama raised his hand, and Hinata followed. They should stay away from any zombie hordes for as long as possible.

“Who wants to go down the hill and raid the supermarket?” Everyone but Hinata and Kageyama raised their hand.

Daichi looked around. “Okay, so I assume no one wants to go to another town. Well, it’s four against two, so we’ll go to the center.” How was he so relaxed about that? Hinata’s stomach already started hurting at the thought of encountering a group of zombies.

“Maybe we’ll find other people there too”, Suga said. “They could help us.”

This reminded Hinata that they hadn’t seen a single person so far. Tsukishima said it was no surprise since the school was up a hill and thus pretty remote. Any person would’ve tried to get out of town instead of running to a potential dead end. That could be the case, but maybe… There weren’t many people left. No, Hinata couldn’t allow himself to think that. His family had made it out safely. Surely, the apocalypse couldn’t have spread over the entire country. His family was probably in a cozy shelter, worrying themselves sick about him. There was no need to worry. Hinata would make it back too, and after all of this was over, they’d find a new place to live, and everything would be okay again. They’d have a routine in their lives again, and the apocalypse would eventually disappear from their mind entirely. Yes, Hinata was confident they’d all be okay.

“We can start planning tomorrow”, Daichi announced. “For now, we should rest.”

Hinata agreed, but the newfound hope spreading in his heart gave him energy he didn’t know he was capable of having since the apocalypse had begun. “Hey, Kageyama?”

“What?”

“Can you show me how you smashed the vending machine?”

Kageyama mumbled something that Hinata didn’t understand. “Idiot, I didn’t smash it.”

“Can you still show me?”, he asked again.

"Fine. Let’s go”, Kageyama gave in with a sigh.

It was nighttime. Hinata and Kageyama had been at the vending machine for some time because they got off track and started messing around with the axe. Kageyama wielded it with little effort, so when Hinata demanded to try it out too, he was surprised when the heavy weight almost made him fall forward. He should’ve trained his arms more before the apocalypse started. A blush had spread all over his cheeks when Kageyama had laughed at him. Of course, Hinata had to smack him for that. They didn’t notice they were gone for so long until Suga came up to them and said they should go to sleep soon.

So there Hinata was. Exhaustion was making his body ache, but he couldn’t stop his heart from racing. He was convinced his heartbeat was loud enough for everyone in the room to hear. They’d leave the school soon. They’d go to where they assumed the zombies would be. None of them even had a weapon yet! The only exception was Kageyama, whom Hinata respected a bit more after seeing him use the axe with ease. The weapon problem was something he’d bring up in the morning. For now, he needed to solve his sleep problem and get some rest.

“What is your problem? I can hear you thinking,” Kageyama whispered. Or tried to whisper, but it was too aggressive for that.

“No, you can't. And why are you still up?”

Hinata heard Kageyama shift. He was probably turning around to face him. “I can’t fall asleep.”

“Me neither”, Hinata agreed.

“Yeah, I figured.”

It was quiet after that, but there was something Hinata needed to know. “Do you think we’ll meet people in town?”

“I don’t know.” Very helpful.

Hinata sighed. “But they have to be somewhere. Or do you really think everyone…?” He couldn’t even finish the sentence.

“They probably ran away to a shelter. It’s unrealistic that millions of people died in a week.”

That was exactly what Hinata was thinking too. Hearing Kageyama agree with him made something in his chest feel lighter. “The government will fix this. They’re just not here yet, because we’re so far away from a major city.”

“Yeah.” Kageyama didn’t say anything else.

“If we could make it to Sendai…”

Kageyama scoffed. “Sendai is an hour away by car.”

Hinata turned around on his back and stared at the ceiling. The barricaded windows still let some light in so he could make out the general shape of the room. “Are you scared?"

“Of course I’m scared. I’m not stupid. We could die when we leave this place.”

“Daichi isn’t scared."

“He’s scared too. He’s just not running around like a headless chicken all the time”, Kageyama provoked.

“Hey!” Hinata snapped and then slapped a hand over his mouth in shock. Shit! Hopefully, the others hadn’t woken up from that. Hinata wasn’t in the mood to deal with a grumpy Tsukishima or receive a disappointing look from Daichi. He whispered, “You don’t have to be mean every time I’m talking to you.”

“I was just saying facts. Now go to sleep and stop thinking.” For some reason that sounded almost nice? Maybe that was Kageyama’s way of comforting people. If it was, he sucked at it.

Hinata grumbled in protest, but he knew Kageyama was right. They’d have to figure out a strategy together and make it to town and back without dying. Or getting bitten. Which in the end had the same result.

Sleep still didn’t come easily to him, but Kageyama’s reassurance that some people had made it to a shelter eased some of Hinata’s concerns.

Chapter Text

Day 12 of the Apocalypse

They’d done nothing but plan for the past three days. All the thinking made Hinata’s head hurt. At one point, he just wanted them all to go and try their luck. He knew that was stupid, though, so he kept listening and watching the conversations go back and forth. They had a plan now. It wasn’t perfect by any means, but it was the best they could do.

They all agreed Kageyama would have to lead the raiding. He was the only one with a good weapon that he also knew how to use. Hinata would have to ask him at some point why he was actually so good at wielding an axe. But that didn’t matter now. Kageyama would lead, and Suga and Daichi would support him. It was important for more than one person to raid the store in case there were a lot of things left that they could need. None of them wanted to leave anything behind. This was probably their only chance to get to the store, so they were going to make the most of it.

Hinata would be the bait. At first, he’d complained, but he WAS the best runner of the group and also the smallest, he’d be able to get out of dangerous situations easier than some of the others. That statement had filled him with pride. He’d show them how well of a decoy he could be. He deliberately chose to ignore how scary it’d probably be.

Yamaguchi had offered to help Hinata, but in the end, they’d agreed it’d be good if two people stayed behind and made sure the school stayed safe, and the others would have an escape route should the zombies really chase them all the way uphill. Tsukishima seemed rather indifferent to his role, but it took some convincing to make Yamaguchi accept it too. Hinata understood. He just wanted to help, and staying behind looked…a bit useless at first. But it totally wasn’t! Having someone stay and defend their safe place was equally important.

With all of their roles discussed, they’d spent some time looking for anything else that could be used as a temporary weapon, and they’d found a broom and a mop in a room they assumed had previously been the janitor's closet. The handles were quite useful. They weren’t ideal for killing zombies, but they could help to keep the creatures at arm's length. They’d still have to depend on Kageyama to actually fight the zombies should it be necessary.

On the day they’d leave, everyone prepared themselves to the best of their abilities. Suga took Kageyama’s backpack so Kageyama wouldn’t have to carry anything with him and could focus on their defense. Daichi had found another bag in one of the classrooms and brought it along too. He also held the broomstick in his hand.

Hinata had the mop handle, so he wouldn’t be completely defenseless if he happened to be eye to eye with a zombie. The zombies were sensitive to sounds, so he’d just have to make a bit of noise, keep running, and keep them away from both the group and himself. Easy enough. However, it was also easy enough to fail. The thought of the zombies catching up to him and digging their teeth into him had dimmed his appetite enough to skip breakfast. He’d have thrown up exactly now had he decided to eat something earlier.

“You’re shaking like a leaf”, Kageyama remarked. Hinata wanted to shout at him, but a quick look at Kageyama made him falter. Kageyama had gripped his axe firmly, but there was an undeniable shake in his grip.

“So are you. It looks like you need to hold on to the axe or you’ll…I don’t know… collapse.”

“Now you’re just being dramatic! I am not-”

Daichi interrupted the two of them who would’ve gotten into a pointless argument. “You can discuss that later. We need to focus, okay?” That successfully shut up both of them.

Suga, who’d left to check on the window and any concerning outside activities one last time, came back. “There’s a single zombie outside. It won’t get much better than that.” The window didn’t cover every spot outside, but it was helpful to know that there was at least no big horde trying to cage them in.

Daichi nodded. “Okay. Is everyone ready?”

No one was ready, but they needed to do this. Hinata eyed Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, and the remaining two bottles of water they had. If they didn’t go out today, they’d die here from dehydration in a couple of days.

Hinata tried to swallow, but his throat was dry. A new wave of nausea hit him, so again he was glad he’d stuck to his idea of not eating. All of them held their breath when Daichi opened the door. It had already felt weird to remove all the chairs and tables they’d used as a barricade, but now they’d see the outside world again, their town.

Outside was…nothing. The zombie Suga had seen was on the left side of the building, but Hinata couldn’t see it from here. Directly in front of them was absolutely nothing. Or at least not any being, was it human or zombie. It looked scarily normal, like the outside of a school was supposed to look during a break, when no students were there. Daichi took the first step, and then the rest of them followed until they were all standing outside. Hinata was immediately hit by the fresh, warm air. For the middle of September, it was still surprisingly hot.

Hinata walked a few more steps. Zombies must’ve been here at some point, but they’d left no traces on the asphalt. The path up to the school looked eerily normal. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but somehow he’d expected the outside to look… more gruesome.

Suga turned around to Yamaguchi. “I think we’re in the clear. Wait for us, and when we knock, let us in.” Yamaguchi nodded and closed the door behind them. That was it. Now they were truly separated from their safe zone.

They made their descent down the hill. The zombie on the left of the school hadn’t tried to come for them, but Hinata still turned around every couple of steps to make sure it wasn’t sneaking up on them. If zombies were even capable of doing that. No, they shouldn’t have the necessary intelligence to make a move like that. In the end, this still was an apocalypse - Hinata was rather safe than sorry.

“Why is it so quiet?” Daichi eventually asked, but kept his voice down. “Are all of them really in the center like Tsukishima said?”

Hinata hoped that wouldn’t be the case. Sure, leading some zombies away would be doable, but if there were hundreds of them? Even he wouldn’t be able to outrun all of them. It was weird that they hadn’t encountered even one other zombie. Suga had seen more of them through the window some days ago. They couldn’t evaporate into thin air; they must be somewhere around the area.

„Let’s pray they aren’t," Suga answered.

“We can always go back up if it looks too dangerous.” Daichi tried to reassure them, and maybe himself too.

Hinata disagreed. “But we have only two bottles of water left. If we don’t go out today, we’ll definitely have to go tomorrow.”

“Would you rather be a bit dehydrated or dead?” Kageyama asked. Hinata wanted to slap him with his mop handle.

“We won’t die.” Hinata attempted to sound confident, but the slight shake in his voice betrayed him.

When they’d reached the end of the hill, their environment became more urban. Trees and little fields were replaced by a two-way road and houses in the near distance. From here, they’d reach the center of the town in ten minutes or less.

Suga gestured for all of them to be quiet from this point on. Hinata grabbed his mop handle tightly until his knuckles were starting to hurt. The first house was close, and Hinata noticed some of the destruction that had been absent from the area around the school. The door to the house was open, and some stuff was on the street, like someone had wanted to take it but then dropped it. Maybe there’d been zombies. Maybe the people had decided it wasn’t worth it and left without looking back.

Hinata stepped closer and discovered something fluffy on the ground. He crouched down. The thing was dirty, like several people had mindlessly trampled on it. But it was undeniably a teddy bear. Hinata’s heart ached for the little girl or boy who’d had to leave it behind. He hoped they’d at least be safe.

A warm hand on his shoulder provided a welcome distraction from the sad scene in front of him. He looked up to meet Daichi’s eyes. The look he gave Hinata was understanding and warm like he knew exactly what Hinata was feeling. Daichi couldn’t be much older than him, but for some reason, he was wise and easy to confide in.

Suga and Kageyama were waiting for them. Hinata got up and gave a thumbs up. He couldn’t linger around here, even though his anxiety was through the roof, and they hadn’t even encountered a zombie yet.

They continued their walk along the main road, which was going through the town and to the center. More houses appeared, and it shouldn’t take much longer until- there they were. All of them froze in place. Tsukishima had been right. Why did he have to be right? Hinata had wondered where the people, the zombies, were. Well, he had his answer.

The creatures were spreading out all over the main square. They weren’t a unanimous group, but they were close enough to each other that Hinata would describe them as a horde. By that point, their group was too far away for the zombies to notice, but if they wanted to go to either the convenience store or the supermarket, they’d have to get within hearing range of the creatures. Hell, they’d basically have to go through the group to get to the entrances.

Suga whispered, “Let’s go around the buildings and get behind the convenience store.”

Daichi was leading with Suga close behind him. Kageyama and Hinata walked in the back, next to each other. They left the main road again to sneak around the houses. Sometimes, strange noises came from inside, but none of them wanted to investigate and figure out what had happened. They could all imagine. The town was full of zombies, but they hadn’t sighted a single survivor so far. Hinata hoped all of them made it out to a rescue center or at least to some place that’d provide them shelter and safety.

When they were finally close to the convenience store, they could hear them. There was nothing the sounds of zombies could be compared to. They were incomprehensible, animalistic groans and growls. The closer Hinata got to the convenience store, the louder these scary noises became.

“Some of them are directly in front of the store”, Kageyama whispered, trying not to attract the attention of the creatures. “Maybe I can smash this window, and we can go in from here?”

“Absolutely not. That noise will just make them all come here. We might get in, but they’ll swarm us, and we’ll never get out”, Daichi explained, and Hinata’s small hope of not having to play the bait anymore had died. But it made sense. They’d be trapped. Maybe they’d survive some days here, but they’d never get out. And what about Tsukishima and Yamaguchi? They’d starve in the school. Or maybe they’d look for their group and also die here. Hinata would have to play his part.

He felt the cheap plastic of the mop handle in his hand. If a zombie got too close, he’d swing the thing at it. “I’ll try to lead them to his area.” Hinata pointed to the right. The main road was separated into two smaller ones, one leading to a settlement of houses. “I know this road. There are some houses. I’ll confuse the zombies. Even if they can follow sounds, it won’t get them far if they don’t know where the sounds come from.”

“I knew you could do it, Hinata,” Daichi said. “But remember what we talked about. If it gets too dangerous at any point, run back to the school. Don’t take any more risks than you have to.”

“I won’t.” It was a promise. Hinata didn’t plan on sacrificing himself today. He still had a family to go home to. Dying wasn’t in the cards for him.

“Take care”, Suga said, and with that, Hinata separated himself from the group. He sneaked around some more houses until he was on the other, smaller road near the settlements. Now the plan would come into fruition.

Yamaguchi was bored. The group hadn’t left long ago, but without the constant bickering from Kageyama and Hinata, it was suddenly pretty quiet. Tsukki wasn’t talkative today, so Yamaguchi was forced into silence he didn’t want. There wasn’t an actual reason to complain about that - silence was way better than escaping zombies and having a near-death experience.

At first, he’d felt brave and wanted to join them, but now he was glad he was behind the walls he’d gotten used to. Even though they were a bit less safe after they’d had to remove the barricade. Still, he was fine. Tsukki was fine too.

“Do you think they’ll be okay?” After more minutes of complete silence, Yamaguchi couldn’t hold himself back anymore from asking the question that had plagued his mind since his companions had left.

Tsukishima shrugged. “I don’t know. Depends on the number of zombies. Depends on how well they can defend themselves. Depends on how well Hinata will do his job.”

“I don’t like this.” Surely, someone would save them soon. Their resources in the school were getting close to non-existent, but surely someone would pick them up before they could die from dehydration or starvation.

“We should come up with a plan B.”

“What? Why-”

“If they don’t make it, we’ll have to get out of here.” Tsukki sounded unaffected, but Yamaguchi was convinced he was just as scared as he was of the possibility that their group wouldn’t come back. He was simply better at hiding it.

Yamaguchi fidgeted with his hands. “And go where?”

“I overheard Hinata and Kageyama some days ago. Hinata mentioned going to Sendai, and I think that could be one of our options.”

“No.”

“No?”

“You keep on saying that the zombies are where the people are. If our group can’t deal with the number of zombies in a small town, what can the two of us do in the biggest city of the prefecture?”, Yamaguchi exclaimed.

“So you suggest we stay in a completely rural area? I don’t know the first thing about survival in the wild, and neither do you. And it’s not like zombies can’t appear in rural areas.”

Yamaguchi sighed. “So we’re fucked.” He’d started this conversation to stop the silence, not to feel hopeless and defeated. “I’ll check out the school again.” He needed to clear his head.

Tsukki didn’t say anything. Both of them should stay where they were; that was the plan, but maybe Tsukki didn’t care enough to tell Yamaguchi not to leave.

Yamaguchi checked out some of the rooms again. He knew there wouldn’t be more food, but there could always be something else that they could use. He didn’t know what he was looking for, but it certainly wasn’t this.

At the back of a room, a closet door was slightly open. Yamaguchi had been in that room before, but he hadn’t paid the closets any mind, assuming that there were probably only personal belongings in them. Still…it could be worth a try.

As he’d guessed, there were mostly school books that a student must have left behind before the summer break. But what actually caught his attention was a bat. The student must have been in the baseball club.

Yamaguchi took it out, turning it in his hand a couple of times. Besides Kageyama’s axe, that was by far the best weapon they’d acquired so far. The thought of actually swinging it at a zombie made him nauseous, but it also meant he was less helpless.

This finding made him more motivated. Maybe there was more stuff to discover here. Yamaguchi started checking more lockers, but they were all impossible to open. Well, he couldn’t always be so lucky.

As he wanted to leave the room to check another, he saw something on the teacher’s desk that he hadn’t paid attention to before. A map. When he examined it closely, he could see it was a map of the entire prefecture. Normally, he wouldn’t care about that. He could just find routes on his phone. In this situation, his phone battery had died on day two, and a map was all there was for finding locations. With this map, they could find a route to Sendai.

Yamaguchi hoped their team would make it back, but if they weren’t, Tsukki and he would have to leave soon. He still didn’t think going to Sendai was a good idea - it was too dangerous, probably full of zombies, too. But perhaps that also meant there were more survivors.

He’d bring both the map and the bat back. It wasn’t much, but it was a start. Something they could use later.

“This is insane!” Daichi exclaimed in what was once a normal convenience store. Shelves were pushed and now resided on the floor, food and other materials were scattered around, some of them unopened, some of them almost ripped apart. It was a whole mess.

And the smell. A convenience store didn't have as much fresh produce as a regular supermarket, but what it had was now rotten and pestered the air. They definitely wouldn’t find anything fresh here, but they had expected that. There was also something else in the air, but Daichi didn’t want to linger on it.

Suga sighed. “This is such a mess. Why is everything spread out on the floor?”

“Zombies?”Kageyama offered, who seemed to be the most unfazed about this display of destruction.

Getting in here had been a difficult task. Hinata had successfully led most of the zombies away, but naturally, some had stayed behind or were too slow and thus noticed the little group moving towards the entrance. Daichi had closed his eyes when he’d had to hit one of the creatures who’d gotten too close and only heard a thump as the broomstick made contact with it. The zombie had been pushed to the ground. It was still moving a little, but Daichi couldn’t bring himself to fully kill it. Or maybe kill was the wrong word. It was already dead. And he didn’t know how to make it immobile anyway. Hinata had muttered something about destroying the brain, but all of his knowledge came from movies. This was reality, and none of them knew how to deal with it yet. So, pushing a zombie away had to do.

Kageyama was more unlucky and had to swing his axe at a few creatures. Daichi had turned his head away. He didn’t need to see it. But that was how they got in here. Their little fight had drawn some attention, so getting out would be trickier, but for now, they were safe enough to explore the place.

“It looks like a fight”, Daichi said as he pointed at some dark red spots that partly covered the floor. He didn’t need to say what they were.

Suga shuddered. “I hope whoever was here made it out okay.”

Then there was silence between them. The only noise was some zombies outside, but they couldn’t get through the door. They knew the group was in there, yet all they could do was stay outside and growl.

Daichi attempted to ignore the creatures to the best of his abilities. They needed food and water. It was a shame that the place’s electricity didn’t work anymore, or otherwise some of the bread and pastries would’ve been edible. However, a lot of the food had gone bad and was moldy. Cans and instant food it would be then.

“There’s not a lot of water left,” Kageyama remarked. Daichi looked up and saw the taller man in front of the drinks section.

“I’m not surprised. That’s the first thing people think about.”

“Just take everything you can and put it into the backpack, okay?” Suga called from the other side of the room.

Daichi went back to his task. At the end of the aisle, there were some instant noodles on the shelf or scattered across the floor. Not the most nutritious food and definitely not the healthiest, but they were edible even uncooked, so Daichi grabbed every package he could find and stuffed them into his bag. Other than that, there were some cans of fish and vegetables. Daichi grabbed these too. Unfortunately, there weren’t as many left as he’d hoped.

He wanted to speak up again when he heard a thump. It didn’t sound like it came from the front door, where the zombies had gathered.

“Was that noise any of you?“he asked.

Suga came into view with the other bag, which was almost full. "No. What noise?”

“No,“ Kageyama said and joined them.

“It’s coming from somewhere there.” Daichi turned around and pointed to the back of the store. There was a slightly open door. Daichi couldn’t recall if it’d been that way when they’d entered. Had it been closed before?

Another thumping sound. The rest of them had heard it too.

“Let’s check it out,” Daichi whispered. They stepped closer, holding their weapons. Daichi prayed it would be a human who’d just gotten stuck and now tried to get out.

But as another sound could be heard, the door gave in, and two people stumbled out. One of them seemed to be wearing typical employee clothing. However, something about it was strange. Red was staining the shirt - the same red that’d been staining the floor.

“Get back!”Suga screamed as both people started to hiss and come towards them.

It all made sense to Daichi now. He wanted to move but found himself paralyzed, his feet refusing to make even one step forward. He held the broomstick tightly as they came closer.

Move. I need to move. I need to do something.

His brain was screaming at him to get away, to do something, but he couldn’t - it was like his body and his brain weren’t cooperating. This was it. He was going to die.

Daichi closed his eyes, but he didn’t feel cold teeth digging into his skin. Instead, he heard a distinct crunch.

Daichi opened his eyes to find both creatures on the floor with Kageyama’s axe stuck in the head of one of them. It was a grotesque sight. The zombies were bleeding, or at least it looked like blood. Dark substance was oozing from their new wounds, staining their clothes and the floor.

Kageyama looked disgusted, while Suga was crouching closer to the zombies. “You hit one of them in the head”, he said shakily.

Daichi could finally move again and made a small step forward. “You just saved us.”

Kageyama shook his head. “It’s like I moved on my own, I didn’t think about it. But now…I have to get my axe out of this.” He pointed at the zombie accusingly.

“I’ll check out the room in the back so we won’t have more surprises.” Daichi couldn’t imagine getting used to this. Finding and slaying zombies wherever he’d go. There must be some place in Japan far away from all of this.

Hinata kept on running. He had no choice but to do so. The zombies weren’t as fast as him, but there were many, and the more distance he could keep from them, the better.

His muscles were starting to complain; he wasn’t used to running this fast for a long time, and his diet hadn’t been the best either. Hinata had only been eating snacks; the last proper meal he had was 12 days ago. He hadn’t even noticed until this point, but he was definitely not at his best at the moment.

It didn’t matter. If he wasn’t at his best, that was fine; he just needed to be good enough to escape these creatures and help his friends. They depended on him, and Hinata would show them that that had been the right choice.

So he kept on running through the street. Sometimes, he would run through an open garden because he’d seen how it confused some of the zombies. They’d stay behind and look around as if there was something else to find. Some of them also got stuck on fences because they were too dependent on their hearing and not smart enough to assess potential dangers. They would tumble over each other easily, which slowed them down.

It helped, but they primarily stayed fixated on Hinata, so he couldn’t allow himself even one moment of peace. He tried to turn into a smaller alley, but got cut off by a couple of zombies. As they heard him, they turned their heads and came towards him. That was not good. The only open way was continuing down the main street, which would leave Hinata open and exposed.

He had no choice. With more zombies on his track, he kept on going towards the main street. His lungs were starting to hurt, and he could feel his sides aching too. Whether or not Hinata wanted to, he’d need to stop and breathe eventually. But definitely not here. Somewhere he could hide and maybe fool some zombies into continuing down the main road instead.

Hinata scanned the area and found a house with a bigger backyard. The car was parked in front of it. Maybe that could work, if he stayed quiet enough.

He ran around the house, entering from the backyard, and positioned himself behind the car. This strategy would give him only a few seconds to breathe, perhaps a minute if he got lucky. Hinata tried to draw in as much air as possible without making too much noise. The zombies were more scattered. Some were on the main street, as Hinata had hoped, while others were somewhere in the backyard, and a few were close enough to become a problem.

It was going semi-well. At least the others had the time they needed to clear the convenience store and start making their way back towards the school. Hinata wasn’t sure if he could say the same about him. He’d need a lot of energy to make it back while keeping up this speed.

He took in another breath and wanted to find a way out, but-

“Hey, you!”

Chapter Text

Hinata turned at hearing a voice that definitely didn’t belong to any member of his group. The voice was calling out for him; it sounded rough and tired. This wasn’t good. Whoever was shouting should stop right at this moment, or otherwise it wouldn’t take long until this area was overrun by zombies.

But where did it come from? Hinata was sure he hadn’t seen anyone when he ran behind the car. He scanned the area around him. The voice didn’t come from the house; it was too loud and clear for that. It also couldn’t come from the way Hinata came from because there was no way he would have just overlooked an entire living person. There weren’t many other places in his view.

The garage was locked, and again, the voice had sounded too clear to come from somewhere indoors. His last option was the backyard. The backyard was quite messy; the people who’d lived there hadn’t maintained it well, even before the entire zombie situation had started. The wooden fences were weathered and unstable; some of them had broken fully. Flowers and grass had taken over the garden. As Hinata looked around this area, he noticed something that felt out of place.

Popping out of a bush, there was a boot. Hinata didn’t want to leave his temporary hiding place, but he took one step forward to finally find what he’d been searching for. The boot belonged to an elderly man. The man must’ve fallen into the bush, which was unfortunate on one hand, but on the other hand, it was almost impossible to see him from afar.

“Yes, you!” The man propped himself up with his arms when he locked eyes with Hinata. “Help me!”

Hinata didn’t know what to say. This was a human. A person who’d survived just like his friends. He’d always believed there were others, but until now, there’d been no confirmation. But the man in front of him was alive and talking to him.

Hinata finally moved. There was so much he wanted to know. He crouched closer and spoke in a hushed voice. “What happened? Why are you here?”

The man scoffed. “Those creatures happened. Tried to set up some traps, but I stepped into one myself. Stupid! So stupid!”

Close to the man and probably in many other areas around the garden as well, there were…bear traps? The traps were sharp and made of iron. They were large and could trap not just bears, but many other animals around the area. It made sense to Hinata that zombies got stuck on them all the same. Unfortunately, that meant humans could get stuck on them, too.

Hinata was close to the man now. He still turned around every couple of seconds because the zombies weren’t far. He could hear their groans and the shuffling of their feet in the distance. There wasn’t a lot of time. Surely, he could free the man from the trap.

As Hinata parted the part of the bush that was obstructing the view of the man’s leg, he slapped a hand over his mouth. The man wasn’t simply stuck in the trap. The teeth of it had dug deeply into his skin to a point where the area around the impact was colored in purple and blue shades. Blood was oozing from the actual wounds; some had already dried on the leg.

“How long have you been here?” This wouldn’t be as simple as Hinata had hoped. He wasn’t a medical expert by any means, but even he could recognize that these wounds were deep and leaving them like this any longer would enhance the possibility of a dangerous infection. However, Hinata hadn’t used a bear trap before, so he wasn’t sure if trying to remove it would go the way he wanted to.

“Hell should I know! Minutes, hours? I was trying to lay low and figure something out until you came here and brought an entire horde of these things with you.” The man pointed at Hinata accusingly.

“To be fair, that’s only a small part of the horde…”, Hinata mumbled so the man couldn’t hear before raising his voice again. “Okay, I’ll take a look.”

“Hurry up!”

Hinata laid down his mop handle. The wound looked horrible, and he’d never touched a bear trap in his entire life. How should he remove it safely? And what should he do afterwards? The man clearly needed medical care, and Hinata didn’t have anything with him. They had some med kits at the school, but in this state, Hinata would have to practically carry the man there.

“What are you waiting for?” The man said impatiently.

“I…I don’t know how to open it.”

“You need to compress the strings. Get some tools and don’t just stand here!”

Tools? Where was he supposed to get anything that could help? He only had a mop handle.

“Where-”

The man interrupted him immediately. “God, this is going nowhere. I will do it myself.”

Hinata immediately saw red when the man tried to sit up and inspect the trap that was still fiercely digging into his left leg. “No, no- Don’t move! You’re really hurt. I can-”

There must be something he could do. Hinata got up to search for anything that could help the poor man and saw a shadow close to the car. It was only for a few seconds, then it moved and disappeared from his view. The man was still in no position to move, so Hinata grabbed the mop handle to investigate and to make sure they weren’t in danger.

As Hinata got closer to the car, something moved again. Maybe it was another human. The figure seemed to be the size of a human. It could be someone who could help him get the man to safety.

Whoever it was, the person moved again and finally made it to the open area where Hinata could see them. What Hinata noticed first was a large butcher knife stuck in one of their legs. It was a wonder they could move. However, when he finally looked at the person properly, he noticed the unnatural, grey, sickly pale skin. The person wore torn-up, dirty clothes, and more wounds were etched on their body. This wasn’t a person. Maybe it’d been one before, but what made them human had died.

Hinata didn’t move. The creature walked slowly. The knife stuck in its leg made it move weirdly and uncoordinated. Had it heard them? That must’ve been the reason why it was there. It seemed a bit lost, though, without a clear target or goal, so Hinata and the man would be fine if they stayed quiet until the zombie moved on through the garden or around the house.

The zombie was barely a few steps away from Hinata. He subconsciously wanted to take a step back, but could stop himself at the last second. He just needed to stay quiet.

When it almost passed him, the undead creature suddenly stopped in its tracks. It turned around slowly, facing Hinata. Barely a heartbeat passed before it flung itself at him. Hinata tried to dodge, but his back hit the car when he took some steps back. There was nowhere to go.

He gripped the mop handle tightly and swung it directly at the zombie’s hurt leg. The creature faltered, letting out a snarl before its legs gave in and it landed on the floor with a thud.

Hinata let out a heavy breath. Hopefully, that hadn’t attracted any other zombies. He needed to get back to his actual mission and find something to help the man.

“Young man, watch out!” the man called out.

His warning came too late. In just a few seconds, the zombie had crawled forward. It reached out to grab Hinata’s leg. His eyes widened in horror. The creature was pulling at him to get even closer. It opened its mouth in anticipation to sink its teeth into his leg. The zombie’s nails fiercely dug into his skin.

Hinata could hear his heartbeat in his own ears. The zombie needed to be immobilized now. He didn’t want to, but he was aware of what had to be done.

“I’m so sorry”, he whispered as he closed his eyes and rammed the mop handle directly into the creature’s head. A loud crunch could be heard, then the world became quiet again. For a moment, the zombie continued clawing at him, but then all movement stopped.

Hinata stayed still for another moment and tentatively opened his eyes. The scene in front of him could rival a horror movie. The creature laid there with his arms still outstretched. Even in its last moments, it had been focused on getting to him. The mop handle was stuck in its head, and a dark substance was flowing out of it freely. With his last remaining strength, Hinata tugged on it and pulled it out. Some of the substance was smeared on it, too.

The man finally spoke again. “You need to kill those too!”

“What?”

The man frantically pointed at the back of the garden. Both the shouting and getting rid of the zombie had attracted the attention of other zombies nearby. The high grass slowed them down, but they made their way towards them. Hinata counted at least five of them.

Oh no. With his “weapon”, he could deal with one of them at a time, maybe two if he could line them up and use the handle perfectly. But five? It wasn’t possible. Not with this.

The man became more panicked when Hinata didn’t move. “Why are you standing there? Kill them! Move!”

“I can’t!”Hinata shouted back in the same panic. “There are too many of them.”

“I didn’t go through all of this shit just to die!”

“I know. I’m sorry.” Zombies appeared from the other direction. They were starting to cage them in. “I’m so sorry.” The man was still stuck in a trap that could only be opened with tools neither of them had. They didn’t have time to get him out.

The zombies came closer. It wouldn’t take much longer until they’d reached them. “I’m so sorry”, Hinata repeated. He couldn’t find any other words.

“No, no, no. You can’t go. Take me with you. Don’t leave!” The man tried to drag himself forward. A scream of agony escaped him, which was followed by more snarling and groaning of zombies.

It was the worst thing Hinata had ever needed to do. His heart ached at the decision he was about to make. “I’m sorry.”

With that, he started to run. He couldn’t bring himself to look back when desperate pleas and screams full of pain rang in his ear.

“Where is Hinata?” Daichi and the group had made it back. Once they’d escaped the creatures directly in front of the store, the path had been relatively clear. They only saw the occasional zombie, but they were able to sneak around them and avoid more confrontations. Yamaguchi had let them in, and they were all back to safety. Well, almost all of them.

Yamaguchi looked slightly anxious. “He’s not here. We haven’t seen him.”

Daichi wanted to say more, but was interrupted by Suga. “He’ll be here soon. He probably had to take a detour, but he’ll come back.” Suga gently rubbed his shoulder. “You should eat something.”

Daichi shook his head. “I can’t. I’ll wait until he returns.”

“Then I’ll wait with you.” Suga sat down near the door where Yamaguchi had been before.

“You don’t have to.”

“I know. But I don’t mind.” Suga then addressed Yamaguchi. “You can join Tsukishima and Kageyama, if you want. We’re okay here.”

Yamaguchi nodded and left to join the other two, who were evaluating their new resources and which ones to use for dinner. All of them were allowed to eat, but no one seemed to want to without Hinata.

“We need better weapons”, Daichi said into the silence. He refused to sit down. Instead, he was pacing around the door.

“Yamaguchi has found a bat.”

“Yes, but all of us need something we can use to defend ourselves. You’ve seen these creatures; they just don’t stop. It’s like they can’t feel pain, they keep on going…” Daichi started ranting.

Suga hummed. “We couldn’t have known. It was the first time any of us ever fought a zombie.”

“And it won’t be the last time. What if something happened to Hinata? How is he supposed to fight them off with a mop handle?”

“He has surely realized that too. You need to have more faith in him.”

“I just-” Daichi gestured with his hands. “He shouldn’t have gone alone. We barely know anything about the creatures outside.”

“I agree with you,” Suga said calmly. “From now on, we’ll go in pairs or as a group. But as I said, we didn’t know. We couldn’t have known. Don’t beat yourself up. Hinata is okay, and he’ll come back to us.”

Daichi breathed out deeply. Maybe Suga was right. Beating himself up wouldn’t bring Hinata back faster. “Thank you.”

“It’s nothing. I’ll get you some water, okay?”

Daichi nodded. He was grateful that out of every person, he was stuck with someone like Suga. Someone rational and realistic, but also kind. He watched the other man walk to the rest of the group, and he breathed out like some weight had been lifted from his chest. The tension in his posture had also eased a bit.

Suga came back with a bottle of water, and Daichi grabbed it with a nod. He hadn’t noticed how dry his throat was until he felt the admittedly warm water run down. It was something he’d always taken for granted before. Clean water had been there since he’d taken his first breath, but now he had to fight undead creatures to get even a sip of it.

“Feels nice, right?” Suga smiled. “Though it could be colder.”

“I don’t want to complain. Having water at all is a reason to be happy.”

“And canned Yakitori.”

“We have that?”Daichi asked. He’d just taken any cans and hadn’t paid much mind to their labels. But canned Yakitori sounded like heaven. He’d often eaten the grilled chicken skewers when he’d been to Sendai.

“Yes. The others really want to eat them today.”

“Once Hinata is here, we should do that. As a celebration.”

Suga looked at him warmly. “That sounds nice.”

They’d drifted into silence afterwards. Exhaustion was tugging on Daichi, but he kept himself alert. He’d wait, and if Hinata wasn’t back soon, he’d go out there and personally get him.

A loud bang on the door interrupted his thoughts. Suga jumped up from the chair, and the others came running too. Yamaguchi and Kageyama even brought their weapons. Tsukishima was the last to join them, but even he seemed alarmed. Something hit the door again with another bang.

“Is it a zombie?” Yamaguchi whispered and got his answer a second later.

“Hello? Please open the door!”

Definitely not a zombie. Daichi hoped he hadn’t just imagined that, but the voice sounded awfully familiar.

Suga, who was closest to the door, opened it. Daichi couldn’t see anything at first because the sun was blinding him. As his eyes finally adjusted to the brightness, he could make out the figure before him. “Hinata!”

The person in front of him was undeniably Hinata. Although he looked worse for wear than he did before their mission. His hair was all messy, his clothes were dirty, and he was sweating all over. Even though he looked rough, Daichi couldn’t spot any obvious injuries.

He wanted to say something, but all of a sudden, someone popped up directly behind Hinata. The growling made it obvious that someone wasn’t human. The zombie fletched its teeth; it was almost close enough to take a bite out of Hinata’s shoulder. In the distance, Daichi could make out some more figures. Now it made a lot more sense why Hinata was so frantic about someone opening the door for him.

“Hinata, get down right now!”

“What-”

“Do it!”

Daichi watched Hinata duck at Kageyama’s order. Yamaguchi was closest to the zombie, but he didn’t move; he was paralyzed. Kageyama had no choice but to push him aside and hit the zombie’s neck with a strike of his axe. The zombie faltered but didn’t go completely still. However, the axe seemed to temporarily distract it from its actual target.

Suga used this opportunity to pull Hinata’s arm and drag him inside their safe space. This action caused both of them to lose their balance and land on the floor. Before the zombie could grab him or anyone, Kageyama took his axe out of its neck and pushed the creature back with all his strength. The zombie tripped over its own feet and hit the ground. As Kageyama retreated, Yamaguchi seized the moment and shut the door with a loud thud.

Daichi let out a sigh of relief and looked over to Suga and Hinata, who were still cowering on the floor.

“Sorry if that was a bit harsh. I didn’t have time to think,” Suga said awkwardly after a moment, to which Hinata shook his head.

“No, that’s okay, thank you for saving me.”

Daichi finally got a better look at Hinata. Not only must he have been in a fight, according to the blood-like substance on his mop handle, something else seemed to be off too. Hinata seemed out of it, like he wasn’t entirely here. It was weird because he’d always been the most energetic person out of their little group. The man in front of him didn’t resemble that at all.

Maybe he was tired?

Kageyama placed his axe near the door. “I’ll get some food and water.”

Tsukishima, who’d only watched their interactions quietly until now, followed with Yamaguchi in tow. Now that Hinata was safe, food was the next thing on the agenda.

Daichi grabbed Hinata’s arm and helped him up. “Let’s get you on a chair. The floor isn’t comfortable.” Hinata didn’t object as he was guided to the nearest chair and sat down.

Suga got up and shot Daichi a worried look, to which he just shrugged. Something was off, but he couldn’t tell what. He just noticed Hinata also looked relatively pale, but again, that could come from exhaustion, the hot weather outside, or not having enough food this day.

“We’ve found canned Yakitori”, Suga said. “And we have more water now. It’s a bit warm, but you’ll feel a lot better after drinking it.”

“Thank you again, Hinata. We wouldn’t have gotten all that stuff without you”, Daichi added.

Hinata was still quiet and only offered a nod. The others came back, and they all sat down in a circle. There was not only canned yakitori, but also canned mackerel and fruits. It was the best food they’ve had in two weeks. Of course, they still had to be mindful of their rations, but today was a day to celebrate, so they figured they could have some of the finer food.

Kageyama was the first one to start eating, but the others followed closely. Daichi managed to get an almost full can of yakitori. He offered it to Hinata. "Eat. It’ll help.”

Hinata looked up. “You can have it. I’m not hungry.” These were the first words he spoke directly to him since their mission.

Daichi couldn’t shake off his worries. “You look like you’re about to collapse. Take at least some bites.”

“It tastes really good!” Yamaguchi joined the conversation. “It’s so different from all the snacks we’ve had since we came here.”

Tsukishima had just finished eating a piece of mackerel. “It’s more nutritious, too.”

Hinata just shook his head. “I’m really not hungry.”

Maybe Daichi should’ve waited. He didn’t even know Hinata well. But since the time they’d met, Hinata had always looked forward to dinner. Hinata wasn’t the type of person who’d refuse to eat, especially not after a long day. “Did something happen?”

It was quiet after that. Yamaguchi and Tsukishima exchanged confused looks while Kageyama almost choked on some yakitori. Only Suga didn’t seem surprised.

“I…”, Hinata started slowly. “I left a person behind.” And with that, one of the longest rants Daichi had ever witnessed commenced. Hinata kept talking and talking. Sometimes, he started sentences but didn’t properly finish them. Then he was speaking way too fast. The topic disturbed him deeply, and although Daichi couldn’t grasp all the details, he got the gist of what had happened. And it was truly horrible.

At the end of his story, Hinata started sobbing. “I didn’t want to leave him. I’m so sorry. If I’d just opened that stupid trap…” He rubbed his eyes as more and more tears started to come.

The rest of the group had stopped eating. They were all listening intently to the tragic situation that had happened to Hinata.

“If it were a bear trap, you’d have needed a rope. It’s almost impossible to open it with your bare hands”, Tsukishima said. “And you tried to find something, didn’t you? It’s not your fault that some zombies showed up.”

Daichi agreed. Hinata could’ve left the person in the first place, but he’d stopped and endangered himself to find something to save the stranger. “Tsukishima is right. What happened is horrible, but it’s not your fault.”

“But it is! If I hadn’t gone to that backyard and brought the zombies with me…”

“Then the zombies would’ve gotten the man sometime later. It was bound to happen,” Tsukishima objected again. “No one could’ve helped him unless they coincidentally brought the right tools and a doctor.”

That didn’t stop Hinata from crying completely, but his sobs were getting quieter. “He was the first survivor I’ve seen. He made it for almost two weeks, and he had to die like that. I can’t help but think I failed him.”

“Come here”, Suga said gently and opened his arms. Hinata inched closer, and Suga wrapped them around him, pulling him into an embrace. “This didn’t happen because of you. The man got unlucky by getting stuck in his own trap. It’s tragic, but it’s not your fault. Thanks to you, all of us survived and now have food.” He rubbed Hinata’s back.

“You helped us so much, Hinata”, Daichi added.

After that, they all sat in silence. Daichi noticed Yamaguchi had moved closer to Tsukishima. They waited patiently for Hinata to calm down. Suga’s embrace seemed to do wonders because minutes later, Hinata pulled away. His eyes were a bit red, but the tears on his face had started to dry.

Kageyama got up and shoved a can of Yakitori into Hinata’s hands. “And now eat.” Hinata hesitated, but eventually he took one piece of chicken out of the can and started eating. Daichi knew this conversation wouldn’t make everything okay, but seeing Hinata eat and regain some of his strength was a start. The others went back to eating while Daichi kept an eye on Hinata. He also offered him some water, which Hinata begrudgingly accepted.

So there were other people. It was a relief to know that they weren’t alone. Although the man's life had taken a tragic end, he’d survived on his own for a while. How many people like him were there? People, who were also hauled up in their houses, tried to do the best they could with their remaining resources.

Daichi would’ve loved to ask the man some questions. Maybe he knew more about the zombies and where they came from. Or what happened to the rest of Japan? Perhaps their town was the only place hit by this tragedy. Was this town maybe even the source of it? If that were the case, they could find out more about the cause of it. For now, these things were mere speculations.

All of them needed to calm down and rest, especially Hinata. He’d need time to recover from what had happened. Guilt was stinging Daichi. One of them should’ve gone with Hinata. It wasn’t fair that he had to endure all of this alone. Suga was understanding and did his best, but even he couldn’t grasp what Hinata had seen.

From this point on, none of them would ever move alone. The events of this day couldn’t be reversed, but they could learn from them and do better in the future.