Chapter Text
Juno sat on a roof, scanning the surroundings. He held a small bag that carried some canned food. Considering what they had back at the base and their recent fruitless expeditions, Juno was proud of themself.
Someone was walking across the roof. Juno felt it before they heard it. They turned quickly, flexing out their feathered wings. When he realized it was only Cj, he relaxed. "Any luck?" He asked, reaching out his hand. Juno took the help and pulled himself to their feet. "Yes, actually. You?" Cj shook his head. "We've stayed here for too long, so we've scavenged everything we can. I'm surprised Apollo hasn't forced us to move out." He walked to the side of the roof, leaning slightly to balance on the incline. "Yeah. If Apollo listened to me, I'd suggest moving." Juno muttered, following his ally.
Cj turned and lowered himself down the side of the chimney, using the same foot holds as always. It wasn't until Cj was safe on the ground that Juno climbed down as well. "We have an updated map. Maybe we could go to one of the new settlements?" Cj suggested, feeling out ideas. Juno shrugged. "Settlements mean help, and we both know Apollo would rather die than get help from someone. And they're unfinished, which could mean helping them. Apollo would have to get a character arc to go to a settlement." Juno said.
The pair followed their normal path through alleyways and on streets. Frequently using paths had a tendency to lower the number of zombies. Today, however, the zombies didn't seem to care about frequented paths. "We could take that road." Cj pointed out. Juno nodded, and the pair snuck onto the road. As luck would have it, Cj slipped on the still damp grass. He lost his balance and fell against some scrap metal. The sound of scraping and clanking as the pieces hit each other was loud.
Cj regained his balance and locked eyes with Juno. "Shit." They muttered unison. Now more focused on escaping, the two ran. Junior tried to situate the bag of cans to stop the sound, but considering the zombies were already in pursuit, he wasn't trying too hard.
"Up there, to the left!" Cj called out. Juno turned and saw what Cj mentioned. A perfectly placed house with a half wall connected to it. While they could climb it, the zombies didn't have enough cognitive skills to follow. Juno curved his path and unfurled his wings. With a few strong flaps, they'd taken flight. They landed on the roof and dropped the bag. When he turned to help Cj up, he saw just how close the zombies were. They'd cut it close.
Cj jumped and pulled himself onto the wall. He wobbled a bit, the wall too thin to get a good balance. Juno grabbed his wrist and tugged. And when Cj moved to help, he screamed. Juno saw a zombie bite onto his leg. "Pull me up!" Cj yelled, eyes shut tight from the pain. "It'll take your leg!" Juno argued, yet he still put effort into pulling.
One moment, Juno was pulling Cj from a zombie. The next, the two were in the center of the roof. Juno ignored the scratches he definitely had to peer at Cj's leg. While they hadn't gotten his doctorate before the apocalypse, they still had good medical knowledge. "Cj, stay awake. I'll get us home." Juno reassured, looking through the bag for emergency kit. He opened the kit and surveyed the small bandages and hydrogen peroxide. "Somehow."
♡ ♡ ♡
"He can't stay here." Apollo said, taking the extra medical supplies and packing them in a bag. "The bite took his flesh! And it's more common that an already dead body gets reanimated, not a living one!" Juno argued. Atlas stepped into the room, a frown on his face. "Can you talk about Cj's life a little quieter? You two are disturbing him." She hissed out, his tongue momentarily flicking out.
Juno sat down, the chair squeaking quietly. "Sorry. But Apollo is the one trying to leave him for dead!" Juno squeaked, crossing his arms. Atlas leveled Apollo with a stare. "Until we're sure about Cj's survival, he's staying." While Apollo didn't enjoy Atlas taking Juno's side, it knew better than to argue. "Fine." It huffed. Juno gave Atlas a thankful smile.
"Now that that's settled, how are the rations looking?" Apollo motioned to the tied bag sitting in the counter. "With what Juno brought back, we'll have to spread our rations thinner. However, we have enough to travel if we focus on movement rather than scavenging." He explained, tying the ends of the bag in his hands. With a Sharpie, he wrote "Medical" on the front. "Good." Atlas said with a nod. She turned her head to Juno. "Cj is awake now. You wanna check on him?" He offered. Juno nodded, glad to put space between them and Apollo.
The bird hybrid walked into the living room, then into Cj's room, their talons clicking softly against the wood. "Cj? How do you feel?" They asked, stepping up to the side of the injured man's bed. "Pain." Cj said. Juno took in his appearance. Cj was pale, and his eyes never seemed to focus. Death-like appearance was a common symptom of zombifaction, but it was also what someone with blood loss would look like. "Do you think you can eat something tonight?" Juno asked. Cj shook his head. "I haven't felt hungry or thirsty in a while."
Juno froze. Those were the first three symptoms. Though Cj was only bitten earlier that day, he should have much more time before turning. That mixed with the unlikeliness that the bite would've infected him in the first place made Juno skeptical. "Cj? You'd tell us if you ever got a zombie bite, right?" They asked. They didn't want to accuse Cj, not after arguing for his life, but it seemed to be the most likely option. "I was bit." Cj huffed, annoying seeping into his voice. "You were there." Juno sighed, relief flooding him. "I know. I just needed to be able to prove Apollo wrong." They explained. Cj's eyes closed, and Juno took that as his time to leave.
♡ ♡ ♡
Juno trudged into Cj's room, still annoyed at being woken up. They needed to check on Cj to see how his bite looked. It was time for everyone's monthly check-up anyway. Juno stopped at Cj's bed and lightly shook the bunny hybrid. "Wakey wakey. You're up first." They said, cringing slightly at how out of place their voice sounded in the morning silence. Cj stirred and opened his eyes. "Sit up, please. The faster I check you over, the faster you can go back to sleep." Still looking tired, Cj sat up and shrugged his shirt off. A cut from a scuffle with some other survivors needed to be looked at, especially with the recent bite.
Juno's gloved hands peeled away the old bandages. Underneath, the cut seemed to be mostly healed, and yesterday's escapades hadn't teared the skin. The new skin was still soft and delicate, so Juno covered it with a small bandage. As he stepped away to check the bite wound, small marks caught Juno's attention. He stepped closer and narrowed his eyes. Just below his shoulder, Cj had human teeth marks in his skin. Where the teeth had punctured, the skin was lighter in color, indicating that it was new. Juno forced himself to move on to the bite on his leg. Cj probably had a good, not zombie related reason for the bite.
They lifted the edge of the blanket where Cj's left leg was. The bite wasn't as bad nor as big as it seemed when it was gushing blood. The bleeding had stopped, but the area was obviously delicate. Juno carefully pulled away the bloodied bandages and replaced them with fresh ones. He'd clean out the wound later when Cj is awake. Or at least less cranky.
He put the covers back and looked up to Cj's face. He'd put his shirt back on and had fallen back asleep. With a smile, he left the room. Next was Apollo.
He knocked on the door to Apollo's room, letting himself in when there was no response. Apollo was asleep at his desk. Juno huffed and walked over. They'd told it how bad sleeping at the desk was, and yet it felt like Apollo never used its bed.
"Wake up, Apollo. Check-up time." Juno whispered while shaking his companion. Apollo raised his head, blinking sleep out of his eyes. It turned to Juno, a frown already etched onto its face. Juno pulled away his hands, and Apollo spun the chair to face them.
"I'll make it quick." They promised. Apollo wasn't big on physical contact, and Juno took this into account as he kept the necessary touches quick. Apollo wasn't hard to deal with besides the mental health questions. He was coherent enough to answer clearly, but he never went into deep descriptions.
It was over quickly. Apollo followed as Juno left the room, muttering about all the things left to pack. Atlas was next.
A swift climb of the stairs and a couple knocks later, Juno was looking over Atlas. She was good with sleeping in her bed, even if sleep was rare. He wasn't alert during most check-ups, so hearing her small comments as Juno worked was odd. The melodic tone of her voice was calming and not unwelcome. Atlas was truthful throughout the mental health questions, admitting his poor sleep schedule and how the lack of food has been affecting him.
Juno left Atlas' room with a soft wave. Atlas reminded them to give themself a check-up before they closed the door.
Juno entered his room through the door closest to Atlas'. He sprawled out on his bed, allowing himself to rest before Apollo inevitably called them downstairs.
♡ ♡ ♡
Cj was sitting on his knees, head down. Juno could understand why. He doubted he'd be able to look down the barrel of a gun pointed at him and held by a so-called friend. "Put the gun down, Apollo." Atlas said, her voice uncomfortably calm for Juno's liking. They'd have screamed by now if they could move. This was the last thing they wanted to see in the morning. Apollo shifted, though he kept the shotgun pointed at Cj's skull. "No." The modulator was clear, not spot of static to heard. Juno was sure he couldn't even hear the soft hum electricity he'd grown used to.
"Then tell us why you're holding Cj at gun point." Atlas tried. "He attacked me." Apollo spat, "He was human enough to distract but zombie enough to try to eat me." Juno quickly looked over Apollo from where they were standing. They couldn't immediately see any wounds, and they relaxed the slightest bit, glad he wouldn't have to question somebody else's humanity.
"I'm sorry." Cj rasped from the floor. He hadn't spoken in some time, and it was obvious. "An apology won't set you free." Apollo said, anger managing to seep through his modulator. "I know. I want to swear the air before I'm gone." Whether he meant dead or turned was left unspecified. "I was bitten before. Maybe two months before the one with Juno."
Juno was quickly shoved into the memory of seeing the dull marks on Cj's arm. Maybe if they'd spoken up, Cj wouldn't be so close to turning. They shoved away the guilt, forcing themself to rationalize for once. Cj wasn't eating, even before the new bite. He was probably half turned by then. Juno felt like he owed Cj some respect for how long he'd kept off the virus before attacking.
"I didn't want you to kick me out for it. Now, I know I should've spoken up. Juno healed the new bite, I'm sure he could've healed the old one, too." Scilence followed Cj's words.
Cj shifted.
Apollo shot.
Atlas moved.
Juno screamed.
They weren't sure about the time between standing on the stairs and holding Cj's dying body, but they were aware of the cold skin touching his. Skin that had been cold. Skin the shouldn't be cold. Atlas was reprimanding Apollo, but the words smeared together and only reached Juno's ears as muffled sound. Drops of liquid fell onto Cj. Juno realized he was crying. They pulled Cj closer and wished he'd lift up his head and comfort them, apologizing for the cruel joke he and Apollo pulled.
No matter how much they hoped, Cj stayed lifeless.