Chapter Text
Dazai ran through the ruined city of Yokohama his heavy breaths echoed on the empty buildings, plant growth coated near all rubble in sight. The green sea was occasionally broken by tall stalks, topped with giant white flowers that sprinkled pollen on the cracked concrete. Dazai took a deep breath, the pollen and dust filled his lungs but he didn't care, he was finally free, after five years trapped inside sterile white walls, he was home.
Still catching his breath Dazai got a better look at his surroundings; humanoid plant creatures stumbled around the city, their heads looked like giant Venus fly traps and snapping at anything near them. So much had changed since his capture five years ago, the flowers had sprouted just half a year prior and back then the effects of the pollen weren't as severe ranging from appearing as just a small cough to the average flu nothing like now, becoming brain-dead creatures trying to eat everything they come in contact with. Something else must be at play here.
Dazai had wandered through the ruined city for a few days, surviving off the bitter alien-looking fruits that grew on the infectious bushes. The horde grew thicker as the days went on, and yet the creatures ignored him and parted as if Dazai were Moses in the Red Sea. While in the center of a massive crowd, both he and the creatures heard a clatter and then panicked muffled voices from atop a ruined building. the infected moved as one. rushing towards the building Dazai on the other hand ran after the figures jumping across rooftops. Once the crowd thinned the three figures stopped and looked directly at him, the entire group was wearing sheep-themed masks, the figure in the center wore a mask that showed their leadership large horn-like hoses curled into their bright-red hair looping under their ears and connecting to the filter in the front, they were the king of these lost, wandering sheep.
Chuuya glared down at the unknown boy, how he had lasted this long without a mask was a mystery. He should've started turning as soon as he inhaled that pollen coating the horde and yet here he was greedily inhaling oxygen and pollen alike with absolutely no signs of becoming a trapper. The boy, obviously not used to running, walked over to a nearby flower and slumped down at its base causing it to let out one last plume of its toxic pollen before the petals wilted and fell to the ground, the boy was visibly as confused as Chuuya was.
“Hey, what the hell do you think you're doing!? Are you trying to kill us!?” Shirase yelled as the pollen still rained down upon them.
The boy let out a small cough before he spoke. “I just sat down, what makes you think I'm trying to kill you?” the boy looked up at the still-falling pollen. “Oh, don't worry too much about the pollen it'll only give you a fever and cough at most,” He said, disregarding their worry.
“A flu! How dense are you?! You think all you’ll get is a flu? Now that you’ve inhaled that pollen you’re gonna be one of those,” Shirase pointed to a shriveled Trapper lying near the boy who let out a small ‘oh’ before Shirase continued. “Now, how long have you been out here, and why the hell aren't you a Trapper already?!”
“You know, I haven't thought about that,” the boy went silent for a few moments, placing a thoughtful finger on his chin before mumbling “Maybe that's why they took me,” he quietly mused, Chuuya almost didn't hear it. Who was ‘they’ and why would they take this guy? He seemed insufferable... Was he immune? That would explain why someone would ever want to take him.
Chuuya turned to Shirase “Let's go and we’re bringing him” he spun around pointing at the surprised stranger “with,” the stranger looked shocked for a second. Shirase looked as if he was going to protest but before he could the boy stood up and followed the group of three from the ground. He watched as the boy walked through hordes of Trappers without care, and how the creatures quivered and ran away instead of pouncing on him. The strange boy walked on the ground until he spotted an intact fire escape that he clambered up to join the sheep trio.
“Soooo~ What's it like having to wear those masks all the time?” The boy asked
Yuan gave him a judgmental look that Chuuya could just fee l through the mask. “What’s it like not wearing one?”
The boy made a non-committal hum and smiled in a way Chuuya hated, why did he think this was a good idea again?
The sheep’s base was nothing extravagant but it was still airtight and as sterile as the scavenging teens could probably find Dazai flinched as the door sealed, the sound was far too similar to the doors at the laboratory he had just spent so long escaping. As he looked around he noticed with a sharp breath that their base was, in fact, a sister location to the lab he was housed in. Dazai instantly wanted to fucking leave. “How’d you guys find this place?” he asked, attempting to hide his nerves and irritation .
The short one responded while taking his mask off. “Found it abandoned, we came here to loot but then realized everything still works so we took over,” the ginger spun the elastic of the mask in his finger.
“We still have no idea what Mori Labs worked on though,” the grey-haired boy cut in, pointing to the sickeningly familiar faded logo on the wall. “There’s still a few doors we haven't unlocked, be careful around those we don’t know what's behind them, or don’t, I don’t really care…” Dazai could probably get through those doors. Despite being a test subject, he was Mori’s favorite , so he had been given access to almost the entire facility.
“So what is your name, I’m Chuuya, that’s Shirase and Yuan,” the ginger, now named Chuuya, stated then pointed to the others naming every person they came across as they moved through the base. Once Chuuya was finished Dazai also introduced himself but, Now that Dazai really thought about it he might not be as free as he thought, after all, how free can you be in the zombie apocalypse?