Bloom and Scatter [Free! Zombie AU]

The Waiting Game - Part 1

The plague was in the fog?

Rin narrowed his eyes, puzzling out what Makoto had just said, his mind racing.

Rotting from the inside. Tumours. Infection. Neurosedata. Cell regeneration. I gave it to the Runner. necrossssis. A medical and engineering department. The plague is a virus. Lung cancer. Dust particles. Mass graves. It's a neural gas that makes the infected go berserk. swarming the site. Zombie dissection activity. A body on an operating table. They cut up the insides of your lungs and the poison makes those cuts infectious. Vaccination. everything sounded faint and muffled, as though he was submerged underwater... eyes watering... wheezing... Gas masks. A half-ripped mask on a bleeding girl's face. Anti-aircrafts. The army. he swiped a finger across the windshield of a sedan and considered the thick layer of dust...

Rin met Makoto's eyes again and set his jaw.

"No."

Makoto blanched, "No? What... what do you mean, 'no'?"

"It just," Rin drew his mouth into a tight line, "It doesn't make sense."

"It makes perfect sense, Rin! Everything adds up!"

"No, it doesn't! Who put the fog here? Why would they put the fog here? Because if you haven't noticed, this isn't just some... some prank or miscalculation by a research lab. I doubt there could be an industrial accident large enough to cause all of this. This fog is huge, on the scale of whole prefectures. You'd need to be some sort of textbook super villain, a rich crazy asshole or an evil politician to pull off something this big. Or—" Rin cut himself off. He didn't want to say it. Didn't want to think it.

"Exactly," Makoto seemed to realise where his train of thought was heading.

Rin made a frustrated noise, balling up his bandana and tossing it in Makoto's direction, "Exactly nothing. I've yet to hear how everything 'adds up' as you so eloquently put it."

"Okay," Makoto said, squirming a bit before he settled down, eyes darting around nervously, licking his dry lips. Rin wondered in passing if he meant to gesture with his hands but had forgotten that he was tied up or if he was starting to turn. Makoto took in a shaky breath, "Give me a moment. It's a bit... it's a bit overwhelming."

"Consider me whelmed," Rin rolled his eyes and crossed his arms but kept quiet when Makoto didn't respond.

"Okay," Makoto tried again, taking in slow breaths, "Let's cover everything one by one. Let me try to talk things through before you shoot it down."

Rin scowled, "Fine."

"We know the 'what'; the 'what' is the plague and the fog, and the fact that it's one in the same. The research talks about some sort... some sort of drug or disease – something new – and they've been testing it on human subjects."

"Hang on," Rin said, ignoring the irate look Makoto shot him at interrupting, "You don't know that they were testing it on them."

"What else would they be doing, then?"

"Observing?" And okay, that sounded kind of weak when he actually said it aloud.

Makoto let out a sigh, "Fine, whatever it is, all of them – the test subjects – are beset by some sort of infection which makes them go berserk, and then somehow or rather they," he inhaled shakily, "Expire."

Expire. Makoto said it like the loaded term it was. It occurred to Rin that he never found out whether N died naturally or was killed before he went under the scalpel. His felt his skin crawl at the thought as the video from before came to mind. I know I'm a monster. The unkempt scientist with his head in his hands. Confessing. Did they kill all their test subjects? Or... did they do something even worse? Something worse than death.