Take Me Back

Learning The Truth

   Izuku hung his head before walking into the kitchen and sitting down at the table. Kendo followed and placed her gun in between them.
   "Tell me what you remember." She said.
   Izuku hesitated for a moment. Partially because he was trying to remember what happened and also because he was in awe that Kendo was acting so normal as if there weren't two dead bodies less than a foot away from them.
   "Um...not much. All I can remember is Kacchan and I were fighting a group of villains when one of them snuck up behind me and got me pretty good on the back of my head. The last thing I saw before blacking out was Kacchan using his quirk to fight them off and when he did he ran over to me. He was trying to tell me something but his words were muffled to me. I also remember partially waking up in the ambulance on my way to the hospital but it wasn't very long. Then after that I woke up in the hospital with not a single human to be seen or heard and so I began trying to find someone who could explain."
   Kendo listened to what Izuku was saying with intense thought before letting out a sigh. "Why didn't you use your quirk?"
   "What?"
   "Your quirk. Why didn't you use it to fight back. I mean, isn't it supposed to be really strong? You should've been able to kill her easily." Kendo explained.
   "Why would I have wanted to do that though?" Izuku asked, still confused.
   "You really haven't put the pieces together, have you?"
   "What are you talking about? I thought you were going to explain to me what's going on but instead you're making me play connect the dots? I just woke up after being asleep for who knows how long and I'm trying to find my mom and my friends, so can you just tell me what's going on?" Izuku asked, seemingly frustrated by the situation at hand.
   "Alright look." Kendo said with a sigh. "A couple weeks ago, I wanna say it was about three or four, a person was checked into the hospital having said they were having trouble eating, sleeping, basically doing anything and they were running a really high fever while suffering from delirium and hallucinations. Well, not too long after, more people were getting checked in with the exact same problems and doctors thought it was gonna be just another worldwide pandemic like the flu. Only, it turned out to be much more than that. About a week later, the first person admitted into the hospital with these problems began acting erratic. She was violent and aggressive; doctors didn't know what was wrong with her. They eventually got her restrained on a gurney and began to hook her up to some IVs but when they went to check her pulse they realized that she didn't have one. This freaked out every doctor there and none of them knew what to do as you can't kill something that's technically already dead. That's when things took a turn for the worst. The patient freed herself from the restraints and bit the doctor closest to her. He didn't think anything of it at first until he began acting the exact same way as the patient. And that's basically how it spread. It spread like wildfire from town to town; from city to city; from country to country. Eventually the whole world was in chaos and a majority of the population has basically become the walking dead. No warnings, no explanations. It took the whole world by surprise. And now those that remain are just trying to do what they can to survive. Unfortunately for you, you don't know about any of this because you were admitted into the hospital merely twenty four hours before any of this happened and have been in a coma ever since. That's why you don't know what's going on. And that's also why me and so many others thought you were dead."
   Kendo finished explaining and Izuku just sat there in shock.
   "What exactly happened when the virus reached here?" He asked.
   "Well, the first place to get overrun by these things was the hospital. That's even more of a reason why we thought you died. Doctors tried getting as many patients out as possible before they became infected and they tried barricading the ones that were inside different storage and supply rooms. Unfortunately, they didn't get everybody and the patients left behind eventually died and then turned; left to wander the halls of the hospital until they eventually made their way outside to join the herds. At least, that's what I heard. You must be lucky though. I don't know how you managed to be the sole survivor from that hospital but, miracles happen I guess."
   "But h-how is that even possible? I thought that was just something that happened in movies." Izuku stammered. "So is-is that what happened to...?" His voice trailed off as he looked back over at Mitsuki.
   "Yea, it is." Kendo said softly as she looked down at the table.
   "But, Kacchan. Where is he? Do you know if he's okay? Please I need to know. Are any of them okay? Do you know where they are?" Izuku asked in a panic.
   "I'm sorry, I don't know where he or the other members of class 1A are. I haven't seen any of them since before the outbreak."
   Izuku stood up from the table and began pacing back and forth slowly. He was muttering like crazy trying to process everything he had just been told.
   "I know this is hard for you to take in but you need to relax. Panicking won't get you anywhere, believe me."
   "Are you alone?"
   "What?"
   "Are you alone?" Izuku asked again.
   "No, I have a camp not too far away from here. It's hidden so we haven't had any issues with wanderers since this started. It's just me and a few members from 1B who managed to find each other amidst the chaos." Kendo responded.
   "How far?" Izuku asked, finally deciding to sit back down.
   "It's about a ten minute walk."
   Izuku nodded his head and placed his hand on his forehead.
   "Why don't you come back with me? I can tell you're exhausted and need rest." Kendo said as she stood up from the table.
   "No." Izuku said softly.
   "What?"
   "I said no. I need to find my mom. I need to know that she's okay." Izuku said as he also stood up from the table.
   Kendo sighed and put her hand on Izuku's shoulder. "Look, I understand you want to find your mom but you need rest and you won't be able to find her by yourself. You'd get eaten by a wanderer before you even realized one snuck up on you. My group can help you look. And once you recuperate, you'll be able to use your quirk so surviving won't be as difficult for you as it is for us."
   "What do you mean by that?"
   "The quirks that the people at the camp have are good combat quirks but, it's a little hard to find a good way to use them when fighting the dead as we still have to be careful when it comes to the living. We can't just go out and swing recklessly as that can get someone killed. Besides, we still don't fully know what the wanderers are capable of. One of the refugees at the camp claims he saw one of them use their quirk when attacking him. Of course, everyone thinks he's crazy because they don't believe that someone who's dead would be able to use their quirk."
   "Do you believe him?" Izuku asked which made Kendo go silent. "Well?"
   "Honestly, I don't know what to believe anymore. After all, I'm living in a nightmare I thought only existed in movies."
   Izuku looked at her with a slight nod of the head before sitting back down.
   "We should probably get going though. It's going to be dark soon and it's much harder to fight these things off at night." Kendo said as she swung her gun around her shoulder.
   Izuku nodded his head without saying anything and followed Kendo out the door.
   "Just stay behind me and try not to make any noise. That's what attracts them. That and our smell." Kendo instructed when they made it out into the street. "We also need to avoid the more crowded areas of the city as that's where the herds normally reside."
   "You do this a lot don't you?" Izuku asked.
   "Well, I'm one of the few people who know how to use a gun and my quirk comes in handy more than the others. Because of that, I'm the one our group relies on for supply runs. That's what I was doing when I found you." Kendo explained as they continued walking.
   "I guess that makes sense." Izuku was looking around at the ruins of the city; still having a hard time believing any of this was real.
   "There's one other thing I should warn you about."
   "And what's that?"
   "Don't get bit by these things. You want to try to avoid getting scratched and clawed as well."
   "Why is that?" Izuku asked, picking up his pace so he was closer to Kendo.
   "How do you think this virus spread so fast? It spreads through bites or scratches. It can also be spread by getting their blood inside an open wound. That's why you wanna stay as covered up as possible and do your best to keep their mouth and hands away from you."
   "Great, this just keeps getting better." Izuku said sarcastically as he continued to look around.
   "Yea, it's not fun. We lost quite a bit of people while trying to escape to the outskirts of the city. It's not an easy thing to get used to and, to be honest, I don't think any of us will ever truly get used to it. After all, this outbreak took all of our dreams away. We no longer have the ability to follow through with our lifelong plans. The only thing we can do is live out day to day trying to keep each other safe."
   Izuku looked down at the ground and sighed knowing that she was pretty much right. The world as they knew it was gone. There was nothing left of it except for the dead and the living who were just trying their best to survive.