Bloom and Scatter [Free! Zombie AU]

The Fog - Part 2

Gas Mask – surprisingly agile and surefooted for his height – ended up running him down alley after alley into a small, boarded up house, which he assumed was Gas Mask's home base. Barely any natural light came through, but even so, he kept his mask on. He made Rin sit on the sofa and it was such a relief to be on something soft and horizontal that he could physically feel his muscles groan in contentment as he sunk into the worn and beaten cushions.

"I'm glad to see you're feeling better," Gas Mask said.

"Yeah, well," Rin let out a bone deep sigh, "Best as I'll ever get I suppose."

"What's your name?"

"Kitajima."

"Kitajima? Are you related to the Olympic swimmer?"

Rin looked at him in surprise.

"Oh, I keep up with the sport," he replied in slight embarrassment.

"...It's not actually my real name," Rin felt like he was talking to an alien.

"Oh!" Gas Mask exclaimed, "Oh, of course, I didn't even realise. Ah, an alias seems to suit your personality. You're a fan of swimming, then?"

"What do you want me to call you?" Rin growled, half in embarrassment and half in irritation.

"I suppose you could call me Tachibana."

"... like Ginchiyo?"

Gas Mask—Tachibana spluttered briefly before he finally cleared his throat and ignored Rin's question altogether.

"Could I ask what you're doing here, in Iwatobi?"

"You could, but that's none of your business."

"I thought as much," Tachibana replied easily, "But I can assume you're looking for someone or something."

"Fine," Rin bit out, sitting up so he could glare at the guy, "I've been out of the country for five years and there was nothing in the news about mass infection or evacuations in Iwatobi. What the hell happened? Did the DMZ expand to include Iwatobi? And what the hell is up with this goddamned fog?"

Tachibana, who had been silently listening, seemed to look at him strangely.

"... Kitajima, this isn't a DMZ. This is an FDMZ."

"What the fuck is an FDMZ?"

"It's... much worse than a DMZ. An FDMZ is a Fumigated De-militarised Zone. This yellow fog is a military tactic to flush out the infected from a particular area. It's a neural gas that makes the infected go berserk. They end up tearing themselves apart, or going after each other."

Whoa. What?

That... actually explained the lack of zombies.

"How come I've never heard of FDMZs?"

"Ah, I can see you thinking that it might be a new anti-zombie solution," Tachibana replied wryly, "Unfortunately, the gas is equally toxic to humans. In addition to being a poisonous neural gas, it's been shown to be cancerous. That, coupled with the heat, dehydration, and the internal lung injuries the fog causes..."

"Lung injuries?"

"Yes," Tachibana said, "Did you notice the dust all around the town?"

Rin's mouth went dry, "Those are particles from the fog?"

"They cut up the insides of your lungs and the poison makes those cuts infectious. Everyone who lives here has a mask, but... well, living long and healthy lives is out of the equation."

"Wait," Rin said, his head hurting again, "Why haven't FDMZs been in the news if DMZs have?"

"It's considered top secret. When the communication cut-off began is when they started gassing. It's one of the worst anti-infection strategies anyone could come up, which means bad PR for the government. You can probably guess why it's so hush-hush."

"Okay," Rin said, "And who were the guys I saw who were beating the shit out of each other? They didn't have any masks on."

Tachibana paused briefly, "It takes a while to succumb to the gas, so they must have had intense and/or long-term exposure. If they don't have any masks on, either they were damaged or unusable – the filters need to be replaced or cleaned out – and... well, exposure to the fog makes people go... feral."

Feral humans instead of zombies. Great.

"In short," Tachibana said with finality, "We need to get you a gas mask."