chapter one
Title: Holding On (Call My Name)
Author: hotfruits
Beta: dreamweavernyx ♥
Rating: R for violence and swearing
Characters: JUMP - pairings will come later
Summary: AU!Zombies. Yuto had been at school when it all happened, and now, he and the other survivors are just trying to stay alive.
prequel
It had been two months since Japan had gone to hell, or at least Yuto thought it was two months. After the initial attack and running home to his empty house, Yuto spent the first week sobbing uncontrollably, hoping and praying that his family would soon come home. He spent the next week curled up in bed, afraid to leave the comfort of his warm blankets. By the third week the electricity had gone out, and after that the days began to blur together. He no longer had the news broadcast to listen to, which gave detailed reports on rescue missions into the cities, the death toll and of course, the constant warning to not leave your house. Not too long after the electricity went, the water did too, marking what Yuto assumed was his first month trapped in his house.
The next month breezed by surprisingly fast. Yuto never left, still holding on to that hope that maybe his family would return, although deep down he knew he was being unrealistic. There was no way they could have survived, not with the way things were, bodies lining the street and new ones arising every day; the idea of that happening to his family though, to Raiya, absolutely killed him inside, and so Yuto forced himself to remain hopeful, if only to keep himself from losing it.
It was getting hard though, without water or electricity. The perishable food went by fast, and it now sat rotting in his refrigerator. He had some boxed food left, but most of it needed to be boiled in water or prepared in some manner, and he had no means to do that.
It’s been three days since he last ate, and the gripping pain of hunger was making him woozy, along with the fact that he hasn’t drank clean water in weeks. He knew he was probably sick, wasting away like this, feeling so numbingly weak. A few more days like this, and he would probably die.
“That wouldn’t be so bad,” Yuto mumbled, his voice hoarse as he curled up on the couch, staring at the blank TV screen.
His stomach gave another painful rumble, and Yuto sighed, closing his eyes as he tried to get some sleep.
***
Yuto woke up a few hours later with tears on his cheeks, and a sad image of his mother stroking his hair, telling him to keep going. Slowly, he got up, body shaking as he stumbled to the front door. Grabbing his coat and an umbrella, which he figured he could use as a weapon, Yuto went outside for the first time in months.
The stench in the air was overpowering, and Yuto had to pause for a moment as he collected himself, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. Stepping over the body that lay on his front porch, Yuto began to walk towards the nearest convenience store, hoping that other survivors hadn’t cleared the shelves out.
Surprisingly, he was in luck; there were a ton of granola bars, snack cakes and even some fruit that still looked edible. Grabbing it all, Yuto eagerly took a bite of an apple and moaned, savoring the taste. As he ate, he stuffed his food into a bag he found on the floor, throwing a couple dozen water bottles in there as well.
“This should get me through a couple weeks,” Yuto smiled for the first in months, feeling a sense of hope that he didn’t have to force.
That feeling quickly vanished though when he heard a moan coming from behind. Gulping, Yuto gripped his umbrella and turned around, a tiny whimper escaping his throat as he saw the bodies that were limping towards them.
Backing away, Yuto began to run but stopped; there were more of them now, coming around the corner where the pasta boxes were. Yuto mentally cursed to himself, breathing hard as he looked around. This was it, he was going to die and be eaten by these monsters, and there was nothing he could do -
“God damnit!” Yuto screamed and swung his umbrella at the nearest corpse, sending its head flying across the room. The body dropped to its knees and then fell to the floor, unmoving. Yuto stared at it for a moment, transfixed, and then it clicked.
These things could be killed.
Swinging his umbrella again, Yuto knocked another head off and punched the one next to it, giving him enough space to run for it. Sprinting towards the exit, Yuto almost made it there when a bony hand caught him around the ankle, sending him flying onto the floor. He landed, hard, his wrists taking most of the impact, and he screamed in pain as he felt a bone snap.
“No, no, no,” Yuto sobbed, cradling his injured wrist to his chest, trying to get up. The corpse was too quick though and it pulled him back, looking at him hungrily, its mouth hanging open.
A sharp bang rang through the air and the corpse collapsed on top of him, a bullet sized hole in its forehead. Shoving the body off of him, Yuto got up and ran, forgetting his bag of supplies as he quickly got out of the store, looking for the person who might have shot it. He found the person sitting in a parked car across the street, a rifle sticking out of the driver’s window as it fired another shot.
Without a second glance, Yuto ran for the car and around to the passengers seat, getting in and slamming the door behind him. The driver, who didn’t look much older than himself, pressed his foot onto the accelerator and sped off, sending Yuto flying back into his seat.
“Hey, you okay?” the driver asked, speeding down the street and making a sharp right, causing Yuto to bump his head against the window. “Did they bite you?”
“No,” Yuto shook his head, breathing hard as he clutched onto the seat with his good hand, his eyes darting over to the speedometer. The driver was going over a hundred, and Yuto felt sick to his stomach when they made a left, running over a few bodies along the way, the car going over them like a series of speed bumps.
“Can you please slow down?” Yuto asked, cringing as they jumped over another body, “Please, I think-”
The driver suddenly stopped, the tires screeching in protest as they skidded a few feet. Hand over his mouth, Yuto stumbled out of the car and immediately threw up, feeling horribly overwhelmed and like he was about to break down any second.
“Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay,” the driver said, rubbing his back as he heaved. “My name is Keito, by the way.”
“Yuto,” he rasped out, taking a deep breath as he crawled back into the car. Thankfully, Keito drove much slower and avoided the bodies on the road as he took them towards Chiba, eventually parking outside a small house.
Keito helped him out of the car and into the house, fetching the first aid kit as Yuto sat down on the couch, feeling the pain in his wrist very strongly. “It doesn’t look like a bad break,” Keito said, wrapping it to the best of his ability. “There isn’t much I can do though, and I don’t know if there’s any more doctors still around. I’ll try and find some painkillers tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” Yuto gently held his wrist, sighing as he looked around. “Are all those guns yours?” he asked Keito, gesturing towards the glass coffee table which, was littered with guns and ammo.
“Yeah, been collecting them ever since this shit started happening,” Keito leaned back into the couch, giving Yuto a curious look. “So, I don’t mean to pry, but how the hell have you survived for so long? No offense, but attacking those things with an umbrella isn’t exactly a genius plan.”
Yuto couldn’t help but chuckle, “Today was my first day outside since the attack. I was too scared to leave my house, but I hadn’t eaten in days and well, didn’t have much of a choice.”
“Damn, you must be starving then.”
Keito got up and left the room, and Yuto could hear a few pots banging around. “Hey Yuto, why don’t you go shower and I’ll get us some food ready?”
“You still have water?” Yuto asked, surprised, as he stood up.
“Yeah! The shower is upstairs, towels should be somewhere and you can borrow whatever clothes you need,” Keito called out, and Yuto grinned, walking as quickly as he could up the stairs.
Finding a towel, clothes and the shower, Yuto quickly stripped and got under the hot spray, sighing with relief as soon as he felt it. He scrubbed at his skin for nearly an hour, and shampooed his hair three times before he felt satisfied that he was finally clean.
Getting out of the shower, Yuto found an extra tooth brush and brushed his teeth a couple of times, ignoring the sting in his gums as he thoroughly cleaned them. After that, he toweled off and got dressed, heading back downstairs and feeling like a new Yuto.
When he entered the kitchen, the food was already set out and Yuto quickly dove in, shoveling the pasta Keito had made into his mouth. It was rather simple, but to Yuto, who hadn’t eaten a proper meal since before the attacks, felt like he was eating a five star dinner.
“Sadly, we can’t eat good food like this too often,” Keito was also eating his pasta enthusiastically. “I don’t know how long the water will last in this place, or the electricity. It’s been a few weeks though, so maybe we’ll be lucky.”
Yuto nodded, finishing up his first plate and going for seconds, when he paused, looking back at Keito. “Are you saying I can stay here, with you?”
“Well, unless you want to go back to your house, yeah,” Keito smiled, “It’d be nice to have someone else around. I’ve been on my own since all this shit happened.”
“Where were you, when it happened?” Yuto asked, sitting back down and starting on his second plate, although he ate more slowly this time.
Keito sighed, looking down at his food, “I was walking home from school, and I was almost there when I saw my neighbor…” Keito paused, clearing his throat, “She was attacking my Dad, and I ran over to go to help him get her off, but before we did, she managed to bite him on the arm. We quickly got inside after that, and we tried to clean the wound out, but then Dad started to act really funny, and well…” Keito stopped, wiping away a tear that had fallen down his cheek.
“I had to shoot him, and it took me awhile to figure out that when you shoot them in the head, they die,” Keito continued, his hands shaking as he gripped his fork. “After that I ran for it, hot wiring his car and driving away as fast as I could. I’ve been house-hopping since then, it’s not wise to stay in one area for too long, and trying my best to collect food here and there.”
Yuto stared at Keito, finding himself at a loss for words. He couldn’t even imagine…killing his own father. Not that he blamed Keito, of course, the situation called for it, but…
“I’m so sorry,” Yuto managed to say, but Keito brushed it off, trying to discreetly wipe away his tears.
“I was at school when it happened,” Yuto said, hoping his story would distract Keito from his pain, “And my friend Suzuka got attacked. We tried to fight off the kids who bit her, but then she turned and bit Umika. Mirai, Yuma and I ran for it at that point, and when we got outside, Mirai left to go see if her family was okay, and Yuma followed her. I went home too but no one was there, my parents had taken my little brother Raiya to the park. I,” here, Yuto began to tear up, feeling his throat tightening as he forced the words out, “I tried to make myself believe that they would eventually come home, and everything would be fine, but it didn’t happen. They’re gone, and there’s nothing I can do now but try and survive this.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t let you die,” Keito whispered, reaching across the table and grabbing Yuto’s hand. “We’ll get through this, together.”
Yuto nodded, giving Keito’s hand a squeeze.
Author: hotfruits
Beta: dreamweavernyx ♥
Rating: R for violence and swearing
Characters: JUMP - pairings will come later
Summary: AU!Zombies. Yuto had been at school when it all happened, and now, he and the other survivors are just trying to stay alive.
prequel
It had been two months since Japan had gone to hell, or at least Yuto thought it was two months. After the initial attack and running home to his empty house, Yuto spent the first week sobbing uncontrollably, hoping and praying that his family would soon come home. He spent the next week curled up in bed, afraid to leave the comfort of his warm blankets. By the third week the electricity had gone out, and after that the days began to blur together. He no longer had the news broadcast to listen to, which gave detailed reports on rescue missions into the cities, the death toll and of course, the constant warning to not leave your house. Not too long after the electricity went, the water did too, marking what Yuto assumed was his first month trapped in his house.
The next month breezed by surprisingly fast. Yuto never left, still holding on to that hope that maybe his family would return, although deep down he knew he was being unrealistic. There was no way they could have survived, not with the way things were, bodies lining the street and new ones arising every day; the idea of that happening to his family though, to Raiya, absolutely killed him inside, and so Yuto forced himself to remain hopeful, if only to keep himself from losing it.
It was getting hard though, without water or electricity. The perishable food went by fast, and it now sat rotting in his refrigerator. He had some boxed food left, but most of it needed to be boiled in water or prepared in some manner, and he had no means to do that.
It’s been three days since he last ate, and the gripping pain of hunger was making him woozy, along with the fact that he hasn’t drank clean water in weeks. He knew he was probably sick, wasting away like this, feeling so numbingly weak. A few more days like this, and he would probably die.
“That wouldn’t be so bad,” Yuto mumbled, his voice hoarse as he curled up on the couch, staring at the blank TV screen.
His stomach gave another painful rumble, and Yuto sighed, closing his eyes as he tried to get some sleep.
***
Yuto woke up a few hours later with tears on his cheeks, and a sad image of his mother stroking his hair, telling him to keep going. Slowly, he got up, body shaking as he stumbled to the front door. Grabbing his coat and an umbrella, which he figured he could use as a weapon, Yuto went outside for the first time in months.
The stench in the air was overpowering, and Yuto had to pause for a moment as he collected himself, tears gathering in the corners of his eyes. Stepping over the body that lay on his front porch, Yuto began to walk towards the nearest convenience store, hoping that other survivors hadn’t cleared the shelves out.
Surprisingly, he was in luck; there were a ton of granola bars, snack cakes and even some fruit that still looked edible. Grabbing it all, Yuto eagerly took a bite of an apple and moaned, savoring the taste. As he ate, he stuffed his food into a bag he found on the floor, throwing a couple dozen water bottles in there as well.
“This should get me through a couple weeks,” Yuto smiled for the first in months, feeling a sense of hope that he didn’t have to force.
That feeling quickly vanished though when he heard a moan coming from behind. Gulping, Yuto gripped his umbrella and turned around, a tiny whimper escaping his throat as he saw the bodies that were limping towards them.
Backing away, Yuto began to run but stopped; there were more of them now, coming around the corner where the pasta boxes were. Yuto mentally cursed to himself, breathing hard as he looked around. This was it, he was going to die and be eaten by these monsters, and there was nothing he could do -
“God damnit!” Yuto screamed and swung his umbrella at the nearest corpse, sending its head flying across the room. The body dropped to its knees and then fell to the floor, unmoving. Yuto stared at it for a moment, transfixed, and then it clicked.
These things could be killed.
Swinging his umbrella again, Yuto knocked another head off and punched the one next to it, giving him enough space to run for it. Sprinting towards the exit, Yuto almost made it there when a bony hand caught him around the ankle, sending him flying onto the floor. He landed, hard, his wrists taking most of the impact, and he screamed in pain as he felt a bone snap.
“No, no, no,” Yuto sobbed, cradling his injured wrist to his chest, trying to get up. The corpse was too quick though and it pulled him back, looking at him hungrily, its mouth hanging open.
A sharp bang rang through the air and the corpse collapsed on top of him, a bullet sized hole in its forehead. Shoving the body off of him, Yuto got up and ran, forgetting his bag of supplies as he quickly got out of the store, looking for the person who might have shot it. He found the person sitting in a parked car across the street, a rifle sticking out of the driver’s window as it fired another shot.
Without a second glance, Yuto ran for the car and around to the passengers seat, getting in and slamming the door behind him. The driver, who didn’t look much older than himself, pressed his foot onto the accelerator and sped off, sending Yuto flying back into his seat.
“Hey, you okay?” the driver asked, speeding down the street and making a sharp right, causing Yuto to bump his head against the window. “Did they bite you?”
“No,” Yuto shook his head, breathing hard as he clutched onto the seat with his good hand, his eyes darting over to the speedometer. The driver was going over a hundred, and Yuto felt sick to his stomach when they made a left, running over a few bodies along the way, the car going over them like a series of speed bumps.
“Can you please slow down?” Yuto asked, cringing as they jumped over another body, “Please, I think-”
The driver suddenly stopped, the tires screeching in protest as they skidded a few feet. Hand over his mouth, Yuto stumbled out of the car and immediately threw up, feeling horribly overwhelmed and like he was about to break down any second.
“Hey, it’s okay, you’re okay,” the driver said, rubbing his back as he heaved. “My name is Keito, by the way.”
“Yuto,” he rasped out, taking a deep breath as he crawled back into the car. Thankfully, Keito drove much slower and avoided the bodies on the road as he took them towards Chiba, eventually parking outside a small house.
Keito helped him out of the car and into the house, fetching the first aid kit as Yuto sat down on the couch, feeling the pain in his wrist very strongly. “It doesn’t look like a bad break,” Keito said, wrapping it to the best of his ability. “There isn’t much I can do though, and I don’t know if there’s any more doctors still around. I’ll try and find some painkillers tomorrow.”
“Thank you,” Yuto gently held his wrist, sighing as he looked around. “Are all those guns yours?” he asked Keito, gesturing towards the glass coffee table which, was littered with guns and ammo.
“Yeah, been collecting them ever since this shit started happening,” Keito leaned back into the couch, giving Yuto a curious look. “So, I don’t mean to pry, but how the hell have you survived for so long? No offense, but attacking those things with an umbrella isn’t exactly a genius plan.”
Yuto couldn’t help but chuckle, “Today was my first day outside since the attack. I was too scared to leave my house, but I hadn’t eaten in days and well, didn’t have much of a choice.”
“Damn, you must be starving then.”
Keito got up and left the room, and Yuto could hear a few pots banging around. “Hey Yuto, why don’t you go shower and I’ll get us some food ready?”
“You still have water?” Yuto asked, surprised, as he stood up.
“Yeah! The shower is upstairs, towels should be somewhere and you can borrow whatever clothes you need,” Keito called out, and Yuto grinned, walking as quickly as he could up the stairs.
Finding a towel, clothes and the shower, Yuto quickly stripped and got under the hot spray, sighing with relief as soon as he felt it. He scrubbed at his skin for nearly an hour, and shampooed his hair three times before he felt satisfied that he was finally clean.
Getting out of the shower, Yuto found an extra tooth brush and brushed his teeth a couple of times, ignoring the sting in his gums as he thoroughly cleaned them. After that, he toweled off and got dressed, heading back downstairs and feeling like a new Yuto.
When he entered the kitchen, the food was already set out and Yuto quickly dove in, shoveling the pasta Keito had made into his mouth. It was rather simple, but to Yuto, who hadn’t eaten a proper meal since before the attacks, felt like he was eating a five star dinner.
“Sadly, we can’t eat good food like this too often,” Keito was also eating his pasta enthusiastically. “I don’t know how long the water will last in this place, or the electricity. It’s been a few weeks though, so maybe we’ll be lucky.”
Yuto nodded, finishing up his first plate and going for seconds, when he paused, looking back at Keito. “Are you saying I can stay here, with you?”
“Well, unless you want to go back to your house, yeah,” Keito smiled, “It’d be nice to have someone else around. I’ve been on my own since all this shit happened.”
“Where were you, when it happened?” Yuto asked, sitting back down and starting on his second plate, although he ate more slowly this time.
Keito sighed, looking down at his food, “I was walking home from school, and I was almost there when I saw my neighbor…” Keito paused, clearing his throat, “She was attacking my Dad, and I ran over to go to help him get her off, but before we did, she managed to bite him on the arm. We quickly got inside after that, and we tried to clean the wound out, but then Dad started to act really funny, and well…” Keito stopped, wiping away a tear that had fallen down his cheek.
“I had to shoot him, and it took me awhile to figure out that when you shoot them in the head, they die,” Keito continued, his hands shaking as he gripped his fork. “After that I ran for it, hot wiring his car and driving away as fast as I could. I’ve been house-hopping since then, it’s not wise to stay in one area for too long, and trying my best to collect food here and there.”
Yuto stared at Keito, finding himself at a loss for words. He couldn’t even imagine…killing his own father. Not that he blamed Keito, of course, the situation called for it, but…
“I’m so sorry,” Yuto managed to say, but Keito brushed it off, trying to discreetly wipe away his tears.
“I was at school when it happened,” Yuto said, hoping his story would distract Keito from his pain, “And my friend Suzuka got attacked. We tried to fight off the kids who bit her, but then she turned and bit Umika. Mirai, Yuma and I ran for it at that point, and when we got outside, Mirai left to go see if her family was okay, and Yuma followed her. I went home too but no one was there, my parents had taken my little brother Raiya to the park. I,” here, Yuto began to tear up, feeling his throat tightening as he forced the words out, “I tried to make myself believe that they would eventually come home, and everything would be fine, but it didn’t happen. They’re gone, and there’s nothing I can do now but try and survive this.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t let you die,” Keito whispered, reaching across the table and grabbing Yuto’s hand. “We’ll get through this, together.”
Yuto nodded, giving Keito’s hand a squeeze.