Bloom and Scatter [Free! Zombie AU]

White Noise - Part 1

The lobby of the Iwatobi Swimming Club was completely still.

Rin could faintly make out the muffled sounds of shamblers shuffling around through the boarded windows and barricaded entrance, still lingering nearby after the chase. If he focused hard enough, he was sure he could pick out the inhuman growling, but his mind was completely focused on something else. He and Makoto stared at one another, without daring to say a word, their shallow breaths overly loud in the silence of the lobby.

"... ccccker left a shotgun behind... to Runner ... special thanks for the housewarming gift, from yoursssss tr...ly... Just another shitty foggy day here in Iwatobi annnnnd I get every one of your lame requestssss... some originality would be appppppreciated..."

The voice was electronic and tinny and filled with static, muffled by distance and distorting every few words, as if it were on a bad frequency. From what Rin could make out, it seemed like it was broadcasting some surreal version of a radio programme, with commentary that he could barely hear anymore as the voice filled with a buzzing and began to modulate downwards, into a lower and slower pitch, the integrity of the sound degrading. Soon, the voice stopped talking and switched to some sort of rock song that was completely incomprehensible through the distortion.

"You heard that, right? I didn't just imagine it?"

"I heard it, all right," Rin replied, picking up his shotgun from where he had dropped it, "And that sounded like a human being. Live, from wherever he's broadcasting."

Rin returned the shotgun to his backpack and unsheathed his machete, holding it carefully in front of him. Makoto was at his back, shadowing him closely as he scanned behind them, crowbar in hand.

They walked carefully down to the main counter, following their ears. The music was warbling to an end as it led the boys towards the main office, whose door had been pried open from the outside – violently. The wood was splintered and the plaster around the door had been hacked at with something heavy, leaving behind chipped paint and a grey pockmarked wall. They exchanged glances before Rin pressed his back up against the doorframe and shimmied his way in, taking big and careful steps as he attempted not to crush anything underfoot, moving towards the big desk near the back where the sound seemed to originate. Makoto entered after Rin but lingered behind, inspecting the forced entry and dutifully keeping watch.

As he gently nudged away the swivel chair with the tip of his machete, Rin could make out a small VCR-like box sitting on the floor, under the desk. Surrounding it were candy wrappers and pizza boxes. Rin snorted to himself before he sheathed his machete and picked the box up with both hands. It had a compact and solid weight. A mouthpiece dangled down along the side, clattering against Rin's leg, connected to the box with a length of curly wire.

"I recognise that," Makoto said as Rin cleared a space for it on the desk, "That's a radio transceiver."

"A what now?"

"A two-way radio," Makoto gently pried the gadget out of Rin's hands and began to tinker with it. After a minute or two of ambient sound alternating between a higher and lower pitch at his fiddling, Makoto proceeded to give the machine a hard smack and it whirred balefully in response.

A grin crept up to Rin's face, "Problems, MacGyver?"

"I think it's damaged," Makoto replied with a faint frown, turning the transceiver on its side and inspecting it.

"No."

"Thank you for your sarcasm, Rin," Makoto said pleasantly but distractedly as he managed to pry open the battery compartment. He was poking around, probably trying his luck, when Rin let out a long-suffering sigh and nudged Makoto aside and, with significant pause during which he made sure Makoto was watching him, he twisted the frequency knob by a degree and pulled up an antenna from the back of the box to its full length. Immediately the sound integrity became crystal clear as the radio played the opening riff of a song Rin recognised as the signature tune of his favourite local indie band.