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The pain is searing hot, sharp and makes his vision go white. Keigo hisses in pain as he turns towards the zombie to his left, seeing the ripped material of his sleeve, seeing the creature’s teeth digging into the skin of his wrist.
“Keigo, what’s – ”
“You’re good.” Keigo says through gritted teeth as he raises his other hand and knocks the zombie hard in the skull with his elbow. Its head is so softened that it collapses under the pressure, jaw loosening and dropping to the floor. He feels grimy hands gripping his collar, his jacket, his bandana.
Keigo hears Touya’s axe clatter to the ground and he whirls around to look at his friend with wide, terrified eyes. “Touya, what the actual f – “
“Just cover me!”
“Wha – “
“COVER ME,”
If there’s something Touya Todoroki is good at, it’s distractions.
The gunshot is loud. Touya hits the chandelier fixture in the bookstore dead-on, causing the wiring to loosen and the chandelier to collapse on their pile of attackers with a loud shatter. Keigo turns to the zombie groping at Touya. He raises his machete and lobs the creature’s head clean off, feeling the same white-hot pain in his shoulder before he kicks behind him, knocking the zombie that bit him in the shoulder back through the shattered display window. Another zombie with a dangling eyeball crawls towards them and Keigo slams his boot into the creature’s forehead, keeping it at bay, his left arm going entirely numb, the searing white-hot pain making him twitch.
Touya rips the head of one of the zombies surrounding them off of its weakened neck, and lights it on fire by the hair, lobbing the beheaded creature towards the pile of undead in the foyer of the store. The books around them ignite first but the zombies, flammable from the toxin inside their bodies, are not far behind. The smell is unbearable; burning flesh and rot marinating with burning wood and paper. The sound is wretched, the screams of the undead mingling with the crackling of flame.
Keigo and Touya run, because that’s all they can do. Touya grabs Keigo by the arm – his left arm, and the pain in his wrist makes Keigo flinch, but Touya doesn’t look back. They climb through the display window, and Keigo notes with concern that Touya lifts their joined arms up to smash glass out of the way, he doesn’t feel any of the cuts the glass leaves behind.
Their boots thud on the pavement. The sun is nearly gone now, hidden by the Georgia skyline, bathing the pavement in soft caramel shades. Keigo looks at the back of Touya’s head, haloed by the setting sun. The world is beautiful but it has nothing on his best friend, his best friend who’s been by his side since they were children. His best friend who he loves like family, but not in the way he loves Touya’s brothers and sister. His best friend who he would die for.
Who he will die for.
Touya is oblivious; Keigo knows that, because if he knew Keigo was bitten he wouldn’t be leading him towards the commune. They see it, bathed in shade, a multistory building that was once a shopping mall and is now known as the Wisteria Commune.
Keigo feels a stabbing pain and his steps slow, and he lets out a low hiss.
Touya turns towards him, slowing his steps. “Keigo, what – “
“Keep going!” Keigo demands, they’re not far enough away. Touya’s hand slips down to Keigo’s. Their fingers lace together as Touya leads him home. Keigo feels a constant, non-stop pulsing from his wrist. His hand is shaking, but he doesn’t think Touya has noticed yet. Or, if he has, he’s blamed it on the near-death experience they just went through.
He turns and sees the bookstore up in flames behind them. The undead flock around, obliviously stumbling right into the fire.
None follow them.
Keigo breathes a sigh of relief. But his breath comes out short and ragged and he coughs. His steps slow and his hand slips from Touya’s. They stand on a four-lane freeway, right in the center.
Keigo falls to his knees.
“Go on, Touya.” Keigo says, trying to stand back up. But his body is not listening to him. He gets one leg propped up, like he’s standing on one knee, but his body won’t let him lift it up. His shadow is long and extends well past where Touya stands before him, processing the scene. Keigo can’t look at his friend’s face. He stares instead at his hand, the one with the broken jacket sleeve, which has gone concerningly pale. The blood coming from the cuts is thick and dark, like it’s already dried, and he can’t feel anything past the wrist.
“You were bit.”
Keigo looks up and stares at Touya’s face. He is impossible to read, just like his father, his expression neutral and his turquoise eyes wide. The sunlight reflects in them, dancing as they dart from Keigo’s face to his dying hand. Keigo forces a smile and shrugs his jacket off, revealing the bite on his shoulder. He feels it throbbing, pulsing, like a heartbeat. The adrenaline is wearing off and his heart rate has spread the flow of the zombie toxin. He feels the fatigue settling in.
“Yeah… sorry about that.” Keigo laughs. “You’re gonna have to go back to the commune alone.”
“You idiot.”
“Yeah.” Keigo’s eyes close and he laughs again. “Sorry.”
He opens his eyes and Touya is looking at him gently. Touya doesn’t give gentle looks. He gives cold stares and annoyed eye-rolls. Keigo frowns.
“Don’t look at me like that.”
“Like what?”
“Like I’m dying.”
“You are dying, dumbass.”
Touya falls to his knees in front of Keigo.
“You have to go. You have to run back to the commune, before I turn, I might attack you.”
“I’m not going to let that happen.” Touya says, firmly. “We made a promise.”
They were only two boys back then, running from a family that had no choice but to destroy one another. They turned towards each other, and they made a promise. A promise neither one actually thought they’d have to make good on.
“You’re going to kill me?” Keigo’s leg gives out completely and rather than flopping forward, he maneuvers his body so that he falls on his right side, staring up at the sky. The sun is almost completely gone now, the moon on its ascent. The sky is so deep purple it’s nearly black and the first stars twinkle in the sky.
Suddenly, his vision is obscured by Touya hovering above him. “I don’t have a choice, Keigo. I’m not letting my dad turn you into one of his experiments.”
“We’re looking for a cure – “
“What’s dead is dead, Keigo. When you turn you won’t ever be yourself again. Even if we find a cure. You’d become unforgivable. You’d eat humans. You’d even hurt me.”
“I wouldn’t ever hurt you, Touya.“ Keigo says.
“You’re right. Because I won’t let you.” Touya is tough, his expression hardened and cold, but Keigo feels the tears fall onto his cheeks. The pain in his left arm is nonstop and getting worse. Now he can’t feel his arm at all, nor can he move it. He’s so tired. Sleep sounds nice. Sleep sounds very nice.
“Keigo.”
Keigo’s eyes open with a start, and he sees Touya’s brows knit together in worry. His face is covered with scars and burns, acquired from his knack for starting fires and throwing weapons, and Keigo wonders why he never bothered to count each injury he has. He wishes he knew the story behind each and every mark. He wants to know the stories. He wants to bring his lips to each and every scar on his best friend’s body, and kiss them, until the painful memories ebb away and are replaced with something happy.
“ You don’t look at me like that.”
Keigo feels hands on either of his cheeks, and tilts his head to the side – as much as he can, anyway.
“Like what?” He asks.
“Like you want to kiss me.” Touya says.
Touya’s forehead is pressed against his. They’re opposite each other from this angle, but Keigo couldn’t move his body to change it, even if he wanted to. He does want to kiss Touya, he thinks, but it would be cruel to say that.
So instead, he whispers, “don’t kill me.”
The pain crosses Touya’s face like a slap.
“You fucking bastard, what else am I supposed to – “
“Burn me.” Keigo wheezes. “Let me die, and then burn me before I turn.”
Touya opens his mouth, then shuts it. He cringes, and Keigo feels his thumbs rubbing circles on his cheeks.
“But we promised.” Touya says.
“I know. But you can’t do it, can you?”
Touya closes his mouth. He looks like he’s about to tell Keigo, ‘fuck you, I could do it right now’, and grab the machete Keigo dropped, and cut his head right off. But instead, Touya just lifts his fist and pounds it against Keigo’s chest, rough. Keigo knows it should hurt, but all he feels is a numb sensation where Touya’s fist connects.
“I can’t do it.” Touya hisses, and he sounds mad about it. “I knew it would happen someday. We couldn’t keep escaping death so fucking narrowly. I knew this would happen to one of us, I prepared for it to happen to one of us, I – “
“It’s easy to prepare when you think you’re going to be the one to die a noble death, isn’t it, Touya?”
“What the fuck?”
“You thought I’d have to kill you.”
“No I didn’t – “
“You never thought it’d be me dying for you , did you?”
“You fucking bastard – “
“You thought you’d get to die first, huh? Well tough shit, it was me – “
“Shut up!” Touya screams, pounding his fist against Keigo’s chest again. “Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!”
Keigo grins; he can’t help it, Touya’s face is flushed with exertion and his eyes are red-rimmed with tears. He’s alive. He’s very much alive. He looks at Touya, who stares down at him with something unreadable on his face.
And then he’s leaning down fully, and he feels Touya’s lips slot against his.
Keigo inhales sharply and Touya pulls away just as quickly.
“I might turn you if you kiss me,” Keigo says. “Or can I not turn anyone until I fully die? I don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever asked anyone if they kissed their bitten lover before they turn – “
“I love you.” Touya interrupts, and Keigo’s mouth closes. He stares up at Touya, at his profile highlighted by the light of the full moon. It catches in his eyes, making them shine like wet gemstones. “I’ve always loved you.”
“Asshole,” Keigo feels anger bubble in his chest, he feels it burst out of him, he feels tears freely falling from the corners of his eyes, “How could you say that when I’m about to die – “
“Because you’re about to die – “
“We could’ve had all the time in the world!” Keigo feels it getting harder to breathe, “If you’d just said something before, we could’ve kissed
so much more
, you fucking basta – “
Keigo is silenced by lips on his again, and this time he doesn’t gape or flinch back. He lifts his right hand – which is already feeling heavy, so heavy, so weighed down – and runs his fingers through Touya’s hair, kissing him back. His best friend tastes like salt and tobacco. He wonders if this is what heaven feels like.
He sighs against Touya’s lips once more, and then, he’s gone.
fin.