Bite To Death

A hand is gently shaking him awake.

"Mukuro," a soft voice calls out. "Wake up, there's something…strange in front of us."

Lured by Chrome's promise of strange happenings, Mukuro opens his eyes and takes stock of his surroundings. Still with Chrome, Ken and Chisuka. Still lying across the backseat of the stolen car with his head on Chrome's l.a.p. Still in pain from the desperate sprint from infected. Still free from the Estraneo bastards.

Still feeling the blood under his nails.

He smiles and sits up, running hands through his hair to comb it before adjusting the dark green uniform grabbed on the last stop.

"Good morning," he says simply, leaning forward between the front seats. "And what lovely surprise do we have-"

A thick blanket of corpses block the street, missing limbs and flesh torn off with abandon but all with crushed skulls. A few scattered bodies surround the car but grow in number so that by the end of the block, from one house's front door to the other, the corpses are high enough to reach Mukuro's h.i.p.s.

The path of dead leads down two blocks and veers to the left, the rest hidden behind houses. The number of bodies varies, but nothing of the street can be seen, covered in the black blood that the zombies generally ooze or even mashed up organs.

"-today," Mukuro finishes.

Sure, it occurs to him that people may have just been dumping the zombies here, but the sheer number is still incredible for only being a month and a week since the outbreak. Even Mukuro and his fellow teens hadn't killed this many and they cut through who knows how many towns since escaping Italy.

Even disregarding that, there are no bullet holes so far as Mukuro can see, just blunt force trauma. It even looks like whatever group did this was having fun – some zombies had been completely broken with bones splintered and flesh turned into pulp.

However, then he focuses on the positioning. These didn't look as if they were simply unloaded from a truck or even carried by hand; splatters matching wounds perfectly, limbs entangled like the zombies had been clawing past their own to reach whatever was cutting them down.

It almost seems like the group who did this honestly fought off a horde of zombies this huge and won.

"Oya," Mukuro breathes out and can't help the delighted laugh. "What a welcome this is, Namimori. You even rolled out the red carpet."

And what a lovely blood red it is.

They back up the car, even though every single one of them wants to just drive over the zombies. It's a good decision, they all know, because their shitty little Nissan wouldn't stand a chance.

Ken makes a vow that he'll find a monster truck and see if he can make a paste. The other three whole heartedly agree.

They end up following the destruction. It goes two blocks down, one left, two more down and another three left until whichever group seemingly runs out of zombies to mash up.

Chrome applauds quietly when they reach the end.

The further they get into the middle of Namimori, the less zombies they find. Never live ones, which is a blessed change from the rest of Japan, but it's the corpses that lessen until they stop showing up at all.

It's disappointing that such a display of bloodl.u.s.t isn't repeated. The fact that Mukuro actually thinks that makes him pause, remembering something about how people shouldn't admire death. He tries to remember, but it was only a snippet of conversation from his time hiding away in the last plane out of Italy.

It was during the outbreak that they escaped from the Estraneo Mafia Family, while the scientists were too busy screaming and being eaten. Mukuro, rather vengeful about them taking his eye and swapping it with an 'improved' version, locked the doors and set the entire building aflame.

Ken with his animal DNA, the proud clone Chisuka, and Chrome who doesn't even need organs, all watched with him.

Then they scrambled away and snuck onto a plane in the panic. Immediately after landing, they stole a car and blindly travelled wherever they wanted, just blissful at being free, and left mass graves in their wake.

Until a week ago that is, when the habitual channel surfing actually brought something more than static. They listened to the happy laughter in shock, and gaped at the J-pop song that blared from the car's radio. The song ends and they noted every word intently.

Namimori is always accepting more people.

Namimori has food and clothes.

Namimori is safe.

Mukuro stretches in the small car, letting out a relieved sigh when his muscles relax after. He glances through the windscreen when Ken makes an annoyed sound.

Up ahead is a large fence, just thin mesh perhaps three meters tall with cement blocks to keep it upright and stable.

A sign on the fence says that if touched with enough pressure, a signal is sent to the control tower. It asks that people go to the north side where the legitimate gate is, and even gives instructions on how to get there.

Mukuro shrugs when Chisuka looks at him, so the driver pulls away and follows the fence to the 'north side'.

The closer they get the more people they see until it seems like the entire town is waiting at the gate. The entrance is wide open as a procession of matte black vehicles drive through.

Military issued tanks are scattered in amongst the SUV's and four wheelers. Right in the middle is something like a decked out semi carting what looks to be a trailer full of injured but relieved humans who peek out of the built in windows. Probably survivors from outside of Namimori being brought in.

Scattered around and on the procession are teenagers and a few a.d.u.l.ts, most of whom carry red armbands that read Disciplinary Committee in gold. These people all hold weapons, clad in strong materials that make it hard for zombies to bite through.

Ken lets out a low whistle at the defences Namimori has but all four are thinking about how corrupt the leader could be, and escape plans if things turn bad.

The last car is a jeep, and stops at the gate instead of following inside. A teenager sits up on the car roof and yawns widely behind a politely raised hand, evidently having been taking a nap. He pulls out noise cancelling earphones and looks down over the side of the car where another red armband is gesturing him down.

The teen does nothing for a moment and the one on the ground tenses a bit. Then the boy rolls his eyes and drops to the floor, jacket fluttering behind him from the motion.

The jeep is waved on as the two retreat to the side of the gate and start talking. Mukuro winds down his window to hear better as Chisuka moves up to greet yet another red armband who starts explaining how to get to the administration building.

Mukuro pays no attention, far more focused on the silver eyed boy with the aura of danger.

"-at least tell me where you leave the bodies next time," the larger one pleads. "It would stop scaring the new recruits too badly if they aren't surprised to find your…"

"My what?" the smaller teen asks, with his voice like a knife.

"…Your boredom," the DC finishes hesitantly.

"I don't see how this is my fault," the dangerous one says, a dismissive exasperation. "The recruits are always so scared of everything. Is it bad to get rid of the vermin?"

"No, Hibari," the larger says slowly as if to coax a lion into not lunging for them. "It's not bad, and it's certainly not your fault. Just…perhaps next time don't spell out anything with the corpses."

Mukuro flashes back to the wonderful show of pure destruction and can finally assign it to the silver eyed boy in front of him. Only to him as well from the way the larger one is talking.

What a monster.

Mukuro smiles and as Chisuka sets the car into drive, he hears;

"First it's don't write my name, then a no to writing Namimori, and now I can't even make pictures?" the boy says, a petulant tone mixing with the sweet poison of his unspoken insults; if they can't handle this, then what use are they?

Mukuro throws his head back and laughs. He wonders if this feeling is love.