Bloom and Scatter [Free! Zombie AU]

Lost & Found - Part 2

For all intents and purposes, Rin couldn't actually leave Makoto behind. For one thing, the idiot still had his precious handgun. For another, he couldn't exactly fault Makoto for being Makoto. If it weren't for his 'leave no man behind' attitude, Rin would have dead long before they even holed up in Tottori. Rin could, however, continue to want to murder Makoto for being a goddamned moron with the survival instincts of a kakapo.

Although he did his best to keep his eye on the man, Makoto did eventually disappear from his line of sight because he was just faster. Their stunt on the bridge had removed most of the zombies in the area, but the screecher had lured some stragglers that Rin had to dispatch with his machete. He was bent on conserving ammo at this point; shotgun rounds were precious.

Rin cursed under his breath as he took refuge in a bicycle shed and thumbed through his map. He laid it flat on the ground and tried to orient himself, glancing around for possible landmarks. Half a building block had been reduced to rubble, and the other block was made up of shops.

"Fuck's sake," he dug into the bottom pocket of his backpack and pulled out his phone, switching it on and waiting for it to boot. Predictably, he had no bars out in a DMZ but at least his battery was still full. After switching on the GPS, even with the fog, his phone could pick up satellite signals. He squinted skywards, only barely able to make out the blue of a cloudless day through the smog. It took about a minute before his phone vibrated in his hand and his location had been triangulated. He placed it alongside his map, running his finger along the grid lines of the crinkled paper until he could finally make out exactly where he was. Rin hesitated to turn his phone off; although most of the buildings were still standing, he wasn't sure how accurate the map would be after all this time. But then again, what was he going to do when he was in a real emergency and his battery was dead?

"No, just... head towards the general direction," Rin told himself, switching his phone off and putting it back. He kept his map out and began walking towards the hospital, machete in his other hand.

This was all complete bullshit.

Rin had a decent sense of direction, and already he had to consult his freaking GPS. What the hell was Makoto thinking, running off like that? It wasn't like this was his turf; he probably didn't know where he was going. Not to mention all the zombies that would be laying in wait for them...

... huh.

Now that he thought about it, the trek back had been... suspiciously zombie-free.

"Either we killed off more zombies than we thought, or this has all been an elaborate ruse and Makoto is actually part of a conspiracy to kill me," Rin groaned quietly, wanting to pinch the bridge of his nose. He'd let his guard down. He was probably going to die. He was going to kill Makoto.

He was spared in his imaginative conjurations of the various ways in which he would maim the boy when he turned a corner and the comforting sight of Lake Koyama came into view. Glancing to the left, he could make out the outline of the Tottori University complex. After a moment's hesitation, Rin ducked into the sports complex.

"Makoto," he called out, "You in here?"

He wasn't. Rin did a quick sweep anyway before he finally decided to jog towards the hospital.