Work Text:
He was so focused on his environment that his breath sounded louder. People would usually call him out about how loud he spoke, but today wasn’t about speaking, nor about being loud.
Today was about staying alive and that was his only concern in mind.
“Is everyone ok?” A voice almost made him jump, coming from his earplugs that had been quiet for a while. Jankos checked the surroundings, a vast and dark forest of pine trees. Only the wind seemed to be the cause of the shuffling sounds around the leaves and the branches, but he knew that the wind wasn’t the only thing crawling its way through the wood.
“Yes.” he answered through his own microphone. Two other answers echoed in his earplugs. He glanced left and right to see Luci and Duffman looking as tense as him, checking on their guns during the lull that wouldn’t last for long. When he searched for it, he saw Wunder’s gaze resting on him and granted him a small nod.
“Right, let’s go further.” The taller man announced and they all braced themselves to start advancing again.
“I’ll watch our backs”, Luci announced and though they were all grateful that she did, no one answered.
They could only cover ten meters before hearing the disgusting grumbling again and Duffman shot first, bullet going straight through his target’s head. It squeaked before exploding in a thick liquid. Jankos had seen enough of those to avoid throwing up on the spot, but the view still wasn’t pleasant to the eyes.
The blow had drawn attention towards them again and Jankos tightened his grip on his shotgun, ready to shoot at any creature who would dare to come close enough.
“Creature”, that’s how he called them in his head. Natus Mortuus was the scientific name people with high degrees and big brains had given them. On the field, they would rather call them zombies or mutants, because of the resemblance they shared with those creatures pictured in many stories that Jankos had read during his teenage years. The difference laid in the way they were created. The zombies of the stories usually came out from a plague, or an experiment that had turned bad, while the Natus Mortuus came from nature itself.
It started a few years earlier. A strange flower had grown during the Halloween night, giving birth to those demonic yet humanoid creatures who would kill and attack anyone at sight. The plant would keep on throwing out new zombies as long as she would still be intact. Killing the flower had been the solution in the first year, but it had regrown again the next Halloween, at a different place in the planet, and so on, until that day.
Jankos wasn’t on his first mission to kill the plant. In fact, he had succeeded four times already, each time with a slightly different squad. He had no doubt that they would make it this year as well, but the task couldn’t be taken lightly and they had to play it very safely.
The fact that he managed to kill the plant multiple times and come back alive didn’t mean that everyone always did.
They made their way through the forest, shooting at sight and collecting wounds each time they couldn’t be quick enough or got surprised. Their objective this year was a derelict house in the middle of the woods. Judging by the flow of the invasion, it seemed like the most likely place for the flower to have grown. Moisturized, hidden, if the house had a cave, Jankos could bet that their target would lay there.
“Look, right in front.” Duffman announced and they saw it. A gigantic house, way bigger than what Jankos would have imagined for the forest house that the searchers had depicted to them before the start of the mission.
“I don’t want to know how many are in there.” Jankos shuddered while shooting at a big zombie.
For some reasons, they were different kinds of Natus Mortuus and some of them, though less common, were more difficult to take down.
“Don’t worry, I’m not asking you to count.” Wunder retorted while giving him a hand and the both of them managed to get rid of their opponent.
They started to eliminate all the creatures around the house, but when they got one down, two seemed to come out of the building. They could contain the invasion inside the house for a while, but they would quickly run out of ammunition, as opposed to the flower, which did not rely on any material to birth a new creature. The situation forced a quick change of strategy.
“I can break inside.” Jankos offered. His experience and the short-range power of his shotgun made him a valuable candidate for this mission.
“Duff and I can cover you. Luci, you go with him.” Wunder decided for them. No one discussed the order.
Jankos checked the loading of his gun and jumped across the wall they were using as a cover. He heard Luci’s lighter steps on his back and broke through the melee of zombies. Most of the creatures that tried to lay a hand on him fell on the ground before reaching him, taken down by his own bullets or his mates’ cover. He opened the door and threw a grenade inside before closing it again. Luci bumped onto him while the explosion cleared a good amount of the inside and warmed the handle of the door.
“Let’s go!” he announced and opened the door again.
His tactic had been efficient. The thick liquid poured on the floor served as a sufficient proof of it, but the house was the heart of the cluster and the creatures kept on coming from the basement, the floors, even the outside, in an endless flow. Jankos caught a staircase leading to the basement from the corner of his eyes and rushed through the room to reach it as soon as possible. Killing the flower was his priority, otherwise the flow of new coming creatures would never stop.
He pushed his way into the melee, dividing the zombies’ attention between him and Luci who stayed close to the main door. The way cleared easily and he reached the stairs in no time, almost too easily.
Only after he jumped over the railing did he realise his blunder.
“Guys, I think I made a mistake.” he chuckled nervously into his open microphone and just used his gun as a bat to push away the horde of enemies that had instantly jumped at him. He was sandwiched between zombies trying to get up the stairs, and the only clear way lead him even further down, where he would quickly get trapped.
“Where are you?” Wunder asked, instantly.
“Down…” Jankos started, before taking a bad scratch in his back. “… stair.” He ended while turning around to shoot into the head of his opponent. The situation forced him to jump even lower, escaping the stairs to arrive in the middle of the dark, open room.
He couldn’t even look up to realise how much he was surrounded. The only thoughts in his mind were to push, shoot and dodge. All he could feel was the pain of the multiple wounds inflicted on him and his heart slowly sinking at the desperate state of his situation.
Worst, the flower didn’t even seem to be in the room.
He heard shots coming from upstairs and felt a tiny hint of hope lightning in his chest as he got backed up against the wall. He still found the strength to shoot despite his arms dripping in blood and his shaking fingers. The metallic smell of his own blood almost overcame the disgusting smell of the zombies themselves.
“Get down!” Someone yelled in his ears and he let himself fall on the ground out of pure trust, eyes closed. Warmth embraced him as an unbearable detonation ringed to his ears. The zombies stopped their attacks. Jankos vaguely perceived the sound of shots through the whistling lingering in his ears. He opened his eyes to see half of the room completely destroyed. Weakened by the first grenade that he had thrown inside, the ceiling had started to collapse.
He saw more than felt Wunder pick him up from the floor and he wished that he could have helped, but his feet wouldn’t carry him anymore. Wunder dragged him outside the house, moving them away from their main target, but seemingly just in time before the house started falling down in some places.
Without caution, Wunder dropped him on the ground to take out his weapon. He fired at a handful of zombies that tried to follow them outside despite Duffman’s cover. Jankos fell face first on the grass, breath heavy and painful. He tried to overcome his poor condition, slowly pushing himself up on all four to cock his shotgun and help Wunder, but the view of his ploughed arms made it pretty clear that he wasn’t in condition.
“Marcin Jankowski, you’re an idiot.”
The reproachful voice got accompanied by a firm grip on his chin, pulling his head up. Something cold pressed against his lips and he opened them slightly to let a fresh liquid fall on his tongue. The effects immediately washed over him. The pain on his back slowly faded away. He looked down to see the wounds close on his arms. He closed his eyes, relishing on the fact that the scary moment was over. A chance that Wunder still carried his healing brew. A shame that he had to waste it on him.
“Thanks.” Jankos breathed, looking up at Wunder who was back on shooting duty.
He then slowly rolled over to sit at his mate’s feet, taking a look at the partially destroyed house.
“Luci, you’re still in?” Wunder asked.
“Yes.” She answered shortly, keeping her voice low. “There is a second staircase. I ran at it while you kept them occupied. I think the flower is down here.”
“Can you see it?”
“Not yet, but it’s crowded around me. I’m hidden under the staircase and I don’t think they saw me yet. I can take a peak if you want.”
“Go ahead, but be careful, we’ll work our way to you. Jankos, Duff, let’s go.”
Jankos sighed. It was bad enough that his mates had to rescue him, but now Luci had just achieved what he had been meant to do, except that she did it better and safer. With a heavy heart, he pushed himself on his feet, testing his balance. He still felt a bit weak, probably due to the blood loss, but the drink that Wunder gave him was working wonders, and he knew that his system had been boosted enough to continue fighting.
“Let’s go.” He muttered and advanced to the front line to take his usual role in the squad.
They entered the house again, but their progress went much slower this time. They had almost finished cleaning the ground floor when Luci’s voice came back into their ears.
“It’s down there, confirmed.”
“Great. We finish it here and come down.” Wunder called.
“Sure. A lot of them climbed the stairs to you already, so it’s calmer here… Oh shit.”
“What is it?” Duffman asked, alarmed. Jankos took a bite in punishment for his distraction, but managed to push the zombie away.
“The flower just spat a big one out, and I think h-“ she cut out in the middle of her sentence.
“Luci?” Wunder asked, worried.
“I’m fine, I just-“ She seemed out of breath, like she was running. Her sentence ended in a crack, and then nothing else. Jankos’ blood ran cold. Whatever happened downstair couldn’t mean any good.
“Shit.” Wunder muttered. “Let’s…” he started, but paused when he saw that Jankos had broken a way through the enemies and was rushing to the second staircase. “JANKOS!!” he called back, but it was too late.
Jankos jumped over the second railing, ready to make amends for his previous mistake.
This room looked less crowded than the one he got trapped in earlier. It probably emptied because of the pressure they put upstairs, but it still contained a significant number of opponents – too much for Luci to handle on her own. She had engaged in a fight with the big guy she had been talking about, while multiple smaller zombies were walking towards her. She looked slightly stunned, but at least she still moved and fought back as hard as she could.
At least she was alive.
“She’s fine. Her earplugs probably broke.” He announced, relived.
“Ok. Be careful. Let’s go cover them, come on Duff!”
A quick look towards the opposing wall told Jankos that they had succeeded their mission: the flower, disgusting mess of rotten petals and thick dripping roots was slowly but surely dying, burning from a fire that Luci had made sure to start before anything.
Jankos wasted no time and took advantage of the attention of the room being focused on his mate to shoot at all the smaller zombies. Those were less dangerous, but during a fight with a bigger one, they could quickly get annoying and deadly.
They all dropped like flies, but despite their absence, Luci didn’t seem like winning the fight. Against a big guy like that, in such a confined space, her chances were pretty low. Jankos tried to shoot at it but it didn’t seem to mind. Instead, it just got angrier at Luci, running at her despite the bullets that she kept firing against its thick skin. Jankos noticed a pinkish area above its head, where the skin looked softer. He tried to shoot at it, but nothing got off and he realised with dread that he had emptied his magazine.
Luci threw him a terrified glance and he just did the only thing left to do.
As the big guy raised a hand up to hit Luci with a deadly punch, he started running at it, holding the cross of his shotgun high above his head. Once he arrived close enough, he took off and jumped as high as he could, lowering his improvised weapon on the softer part he noticed.
The reaction happened instantly. The monster let out an unhappy cry and turned around, using the hand that was meant to strike Luci to hit Jankos instead. The impact left him out of breath. He flew to the other half of the room and crashed into the wall. He thanked the strengthening effects of the healing brew for his unbroken bones, but his head hurt and he might get away with a light commotion.
Although risky, his manoeuvre had worked perfectly for what it was meant for: divert the zombie’s attention.
Now, he hadn’t elaborated the plan any further. And the big guy looked very angry.
Jankos watched him run towards him, completely helpless.
Until a loud bang echoes in the room, and the creature got pushed two meters on the side. It looked confused and turned toward the entrance, growling at the new intruder.
Wunder had taken out the big guns and held it with two hands to stabilise it. He threw another shot which pushed his opponent backwards again, but other than moving him, it didn’t seem to do any damage.
“Aim at the pink… thingy, on his head!” Jankos shouted. He heard firing from the other side of the room and knew that Luci had taken the order. Duffman did the same. Wunder threw a gun in his direction and Jankos crawled to grab it. They emptied their magazines on the guy until it exploded like his siblings before him.
Silence followed its death. They all stood there, catching on their breath, calming down their racing hearts. The flower had been burnt. They did it. Once again, the Halloween curse had been broken.
“Let’s make our way back.” Wunder said.
No one disagreed.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
The way back was always calmer. They still had to be careful, but the zombie population had been lessened by their first run and they were walking away from the clustered zone. Now that the flower had been destroyed, the army could get onto the territory and track down the survivors. There was a reason why they only sent small squads to come close to the flower. Somehow, its magic made her produce more Natus Mortuus when she could sense more humans nearby. The scientists still searched for explanations about the whole phenomenon, but for now, sending small groups until the flower had been burnt seemed to be the best strategy.
Jankos didn’t need explanations. Right now, he needed a shower, some Ibuprofen for his head and a lot of rest. He knew that he still had to go through the heroes’ dinner, where they got invited to a fancy restaurant with fancy people to congratulate them for what they just achieved, but honestly? The only reason why Jankos hadn’t tried to turn it off each year was because the pumpkin soup actually tasted nice.
They met agents on their way back. As soon as the flower was destroyed, the squad had sent a signal to their superior, who already deployed elite troops to clear the area. They politely greeted them and let their guard down until they quickly reached the safety perimeter. Instantly, people came rushing at them, offering them water, blankets, bandages if needed. Jankos took all of that and just sighed, waiting for the wave to be over before being allowed to sit in a corner with his team. It did not last long until the medics had checked them over, advising him rest and to watch out for commotion symptoms.
As Jankos was finally walking towards a calmer area, Wunder called him out.
“Honestly Jankos, what the fuck were you thinking about today?”
Jankos wasn’t sure if there was any fight left in him, but he didn’t like Wunder’s annoyed tone. He had always admired his mates’ willingness to talk things through and not let issues linger and escalate. However, Wunder was very bad at waiting for the right moment.
“I was thinking about the mission, of course. And look, we did it!” Jankos claimed while showing around, trying to turn it into a joke by diverting the attention towards at all the people lively walking around them.
“Oh yeah, great, we did it!” Wunder exclaimed bitterly. “But I had to come save your ass. Two fucking times.”
Jankos frowned. He knew where Wunder wanted to go with that, but having to give justification for his impulsiveness didn’t please him. He had also saved his mates’ asses in the past and it was rude to reproach it to someone.
Wunder had been here for the longest, him more than anyone should know.
“What a great hero!” Jankos congratulated him. “What do you want? I won’t forget to mention it if I get interviewed, if that’s what you’re worried about.”
It was petty, he knew it. Wunder squinted his eyes, triggered.
“Of course I don’t care about it, what the fuck??”
“Then why are you talking shit to me!” Jankos accused him, tightening his grip on the blanket around his shoulders. Tiredness had taken all his patience away, leaving him with a lump of anger in the back of his throat.
“What can I do, I’m just adapting to my public!”
“Guys…” Duffman tried to intervene but neither of them was calm enough to listen.
“Are you calling me shit??” Jankos started talking louder.
“I don’t need to call you that, you’re doing it very well yourself with the little self-respect you have for your own life!”
Jankos threw him a painful look, heart aching. Wunder didn’t even have the decency to look sorry. He supported his glare and Jankos took the loss by averting his gaze, resuming his walk to the calm area he had been aiming at the beginning. Duffman followed him there while Wunder stayed behind with Luci. Kind, new, smart Luci who just destroyed the flower all on her own. Jankos was only human, of course he would be jealous that she succeeded when he failed.
Jealousy just hit harder when he saw her bring a smile to Wunder’s face a few minutes after they had argued so intensely.
“He’s just worried about you.” Duffman tried to soothe him.
Jankos sighed. He didn’t need to be babied, right now. In fact, he would rather be left alone and not talk to anyone for at least a few hours. Which was, in his case, rare enough to be appreciated.
“Well, he’s bad at it.”
His firm tone was enough to convince Duffman that now wasn’t the right time to talk, so he just stayed silent. His presence was comfortable enough for Jankos to feel less lonely and he just relished into it, wishing that that car supposed to bring them at their hotel would arrive soon enough.
*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*-*
Jankos pushed the door of his room open. The shower had made wonders on his sore body, warm water soothing his muscles and sweet scent of shampoo replacing the sweat and blood that had layered on his damaged skin. He looked absolutely fine on the outside, but he knew that some more time would be needed to recover completely and erase the feeling of heaviness lingering in his limbs. A night of rest would not go amiss, too, but he had to survive the evening for that.
He closed the door behind his back and checked his pockets for the magnetic card of the room, to make sure that he didn’t forget it. Just as he took a step backwards, he heard someone walking in his direction and raised his gaze to see Wunder approach.
“Hey. You look good.” he said, and Jankos offered him a tired smile.
“Thanks.”
Wunder didn’t look bad either, but Jankos wasn’t quite in the mood to return the compliment. Such a great event called for sponsors, and each member of the squad had been dressed by one luxury brand. Wunder had inherited Versace and their famous gold and black outfits, while Jankos got Ralph Lauren and their bourgeois style. He didn’t think it fit him so well, but Wunder was too used to seeing him in plain t-shirt, probably.
They started walking side-by-side toward the elevator – usually they would tease each other for not taking the stairs, but not on such an evening. It felt crazy to think that some hours ago, they had been fighting against zombies and risking their lives.
“I’m sorry for what I said earlier.” Wunder blurted out after a few seconds of comfortable silence. Jankos shrugged. He wasn’t one to hold grudges for too long anyway, but then, Wunder corrected himself. “Or maybe I’m mostly sorry about how I said it. I still think you acted inconsiderate.”
A deep sigh escaped Jankos’ lips and he went for the elevator button. The circular device got surrounded by a blue colour after he pressed his finger on it and he took a step backward with a heavy heart.
Blunt honesty was one of Wunder’s specials.
“I know, I’ve acted stupid.” Jankos conceded. “I put myself in danger, and I put you guys in danger as well.”
He looked up at Wunder and saw his small smile, appreciative of the truthfulness in Jankos’ tone. A flame was dancing in his eyes, too. A gleam of concern, the one that would light up with Wunder’s softest protective instinct and made Jankos’ knees go weak at how it changed him. He wasn’t the cold and calculating leader anymore, nor the angry mate that had been deceived.
In front of him, Jankos had Wunder the friend, with all his affection and worries, and he felt terrified of how much this guy could read him and hold his heart in his hand.
“Is it still about Miky?”
The question had been asked softly but it all fell into a waterfall inside Jankos’ mind. The lift bell rang like a saviour and he walked through the elevator’s doors, hoping to leave the conversation on the threshold of this level and run away as soon as possible.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” He stated, spitting the words too quick for comfort.
He looked up at Wunder, waiting for him to walk into the elevator as well. His friend shook his head slightly and gave up. He was aware of the little time they had before dinner, and such a conversation shouldn’t get a determined timing.
“Well. Just remember that people care about you, right? Even if you don’t do it for yourself.” He sighed and suddenly, Jankos realised that Wunder was certainly just as tired as he felt. They had gone through this whole crazy day together, after all, and Wunder even had to make up for his mistakes and save his life, two times in a row.
Jankos looked down, and then took a step forward to press on the ground button.
“Someday it feels like you’re the only one who cares.” He admitted, eyes still wandering away.
“Okaaaay, drama queen.” Wunder teased with his raspy voice. “You know it’s not true.”
His sincere yet joking tone made Jankos chuckle. He dared to look up and realised how close they were standing, despite Wunder leaning against the elevator’s wall, gazing at him from slightly above.
It felt like the time had been suspended.
The elevator’s doors had closed, but it had not yet started its descent.
Jankos wasn’t so sure what happened first. Him pressing his forehead in the crook of Wunder’s neck or Wunder’s arm on his back, inviting him closer. All he knew was that he bathed into Wunder’s warmth even before the lift had begun to move. It had been a while, since the last time he remembered getting such affection from Wunder, or even from anyone else, really.
At the time, he used to seek affection around his mates, but those changed and he grew scared of getting attached.
Wunder’s hand ran in small circles on his back and Jankos could feel his calming heartbeat against his forehead.
They eventually reached their floor and Wunder let him go slowly. Jankos felt different. Maybe a little less heavy, or just holding himself a little better. The door opened to a busy hall and they exchanged a resolved look before making their way through the place, aiming for the dining room. Duffman and Luci had arrived already, waiting for them near the entrance. They exchanged smiles, compliments and teasing remarks, before getting thrown into the crowd.
They ate their pumpkin soup with delight and when Jankos looked up to see Luci laughing at Wunder splashing soup over himself, follow by his friend throwing a whole slice of bread into her soup as an answer, he smiled fondly.
Under the pulp of his fingers, he could still feel the silky softness of Wunder’s shirt lingering.
Somehow, the jealousy had faded away.