Bloom and Scatter [Free! Zombie AU]

White Noise - Part 2

Without even exchanging a glance, they tore through the swimming club, splitting up at the locker rooms. Rin took the fire escape and emergency exit in the back of the building, gratified to see it sealed tighter than a nun's legs. He sprinted down to the pool. The banging and screeching was louder here and he could see why. Makoto seemed to have found a breach in their defences, having discarded his gun on the floor in favour of pressing himself bodily up against an entryway that was only partially boarded up. Through the gaps, rotting arms clawed for him. Both Makoto and the entryway absorbed the impact of another SLAM, sending a plank loose, almost smacking Makoto in the head.

"Rin...!" His shout was strangled, absorbing another body slam, "Help me!"

"Okay, okay, okay," Rin looked around wildly, trying to find anything he could push up against the door as a barricade. Furniture, furniture, furniture. Something big. Like a cabinet. Or a bench. A desk. The office. The office. He zipped down the passage to the life guard's office, heart in his throat when he realised that the desk had been reduced to splinters by a nearby hatchet. Most of it was gone, and a quick glance to Makoto confirmed that it had been used to board up the entrance.

"Rin!"

That's right, the entrance. Makoto was trying to plug in the gaps. Sure, some of the wood had been punched but the pieces were mostly there, weren't they? That's right, littered on the ground around Makoto's feet! Rin grabbed the two or three spare planks from the office and ran to Makoto, pulling out his shotgun from his backpack with his right hand. He dropped the planks on the ground as he pulled up beside the other boy, reloaded loudly, stabbed the barrel through one of the gaps, and blew away the zombies on the other end with an overpowering BANG!

"Gah!" Makoto spluttered beside him, cowering slightly as he was assaulted by shrapnel and tinnitus, "Some warning would be nice!"

"Warning," Rin said, reloading once more and swivelling his shotgun in the gap to a tight corner where he managed to get an eyeful of mutated zombie and shot again. The recoil was a punch in the gut, but the sickening crunch of broken bones and a pained wail from the other end was worth it. Without a moment to lose, Rin dropped the shotgun and picked up the hammer and nails that had been abandoned on the ground and began to hammer the planks in. Once Makoto himself had recovered, he seemed to understand what was going on and helpfully rearranged his limbs to press as many as the loose boards against the gaps as possible as Rin kept hammering.

The unearthly scream picked up from the other side. Down, but not out for the count.

SLAM went the boards, smacking against Makoto. "Hurry up, Rin!"

"Hurrying!" Rin said through a mouthful of nails, continuing to hammer despite losing his hold at another ill-timed SLAM, fumbling until he managed to right his grip and could continue on. SLAM, and the nails fell from his mouth.

"Oh, for the love of..."

Makoto disappeared from his line of sight and he could feel a sharp tug at his waist. With a noisy ssssshing, Makoto unsheathed Rin's machete from its holster and stabbed it at an angle through the boards, timing it at just the right moment to coincide with a SLAM. On the other side, the zombie writhed violently against the barricade, screaming. Makoto twisted the blade as far as he could, gripping so hard his hands were white, causing a loud squelch and the scream faded into a gurgle. With a wet, fleshy sound, he loosened the twist of his grip and pulled the machete out of boards. A dull thud sounded from the other side.

Makoto sighed, sagging to the floor, machete heavy in his hands.

Rin just stared.

"What are you waiting for?" Makoto said breathlessly, as though all the wind had been sucked out of him, "Close up the gaps."