Akugami

7. Escaping Salt Springs.

"Teru...?" Tatsumi whispered, ignoring the Akugami as if it weren't even there and racing over to his friend, the pool of blood expanding quickly, the pool of blood quickly forming around his head was a clear cut sigh that Teru wasn't about to simply get back up as he remembered he usually would after almost any accident. "Hey... hey... get up,Teru." Tatsumi hoarsely and slowly whispered, kneeling down with his eyes springing tears. "Get up, right now… I can't lose you like this again!"

“This isn't happening.” His thoughts attempt to deny the horrible truth he was being faced with so suddenly. "C'mon...Teru, you have to get up!" Tatsumi snapped when he laid a hand on his friend and could feel his skin losing its warmth.

Deep Inside, somewhere he hadn't even known he had perception of, he could feel something, a feeling he had never felt before in such great quantities, sure he'd been through hell, but he was always afraid before, now however he couldn't feel any fear, only a heart wrenching lust for blood, tearing away at the good in his soul and sapping up his hatred and feeding it to something darker than any monster he had ever faced.

As the Akugami approached Tatsumi's position he was unaware, and the same stood true for when it was right above him opening its mouth to devour him, he couldn't feel anything other than hate and it made his skin crawl with sharp pain while nullifying everything else, all he could feel was that burning hatred that even went on to consuming his insides in a painful numbness, and all he could hear was a loud ringing in his ears, and he could only see was Teru's body before him, and then a small beam of darkness lit within him; in that moment he let savagery take hold of his heart.

He fell to his hands in tears, shaking in sobs "I'll kill you all.... You damned Monsters!! I'll k-"

Tatsumi's declaration was cut short when the Akugami's mouth opened around him and he saw the teeth in both peripherals, and then he finally realised what was taking place and snapped out of his trance.

" Tatsumi!! " Yukiyo cried out Just as the monster's gaping mouth clasped, one would ask why she even bothered callig at all but the girl was scared stiff before then.

Seconds passed by, and nobody seemed to know what was going on.

Yukiyo and Mai stood helplessly in the room unable to leave through the window due to another Akugami on the first floor, and they began to panic beyond what they were before, Teri was unconscious, and tatsumi had just vanished down the throat of a monster, they had only each other all of a sudden, and they didn't know what to do, Yukiyo was skilled but aside from killing the one earlier she didn't know if she could fight an Akugami head on, ws that even possible?

Thinking all to be lost she shakily drew the blade she had kept after killing the Akugami in the store and poi ted it at this one, but then there was a sudden thud that shook the ground, causing both girls to force their watery eyes open only to gasp at the sight.

"Tat-sumi?" Yukiyo stuttered in a whisper, seeing him covered in the Akugami's blood and standing on it's head, what had happened she wouldn't ever know, her eyes had been closed as soon as the veast's mouth had shut.

"Yukiyo." Tatsumi called to her darkly, his voice was shrouded in anger as the thick maroon colored blood dripped from his chin, mixed with his tears.

He forcefully yanked the katana from the creature's head, spilling even more of its rich blood under the sound of metal rubbing against bones.

"Teru's not dead, cut it out." He c****d his head to the side and ordered her calmly while wiping the blood from his face, but looking at him through sorrowful eyes she began to cry even more, Tatsumi in that moment was just as scary as the beast he had just killed, and more the in icence she had been so fond of suddenly seemed lost, this wasn't the same Tatsumi from a few moments ago, this person she was looking at had the eyes of a murderer; no… more than a mere murderer, he looked like someone who had gone mad after seeing hell, and he looked sad, so sad that merely making eye contact was breaking her heart.

The dreadful silence in the room was broken when the Akugami from the first floor's head popped into the room from the broken window, whatever sadness that was in Tatsumi's eyes vanished with the presence of rage as he dashed across the room and madly drove his katana into it's eyeball, the creature released an ear-piercing cry; tugging it's head away and falling to the ground on it's back, wailing in pain and rolling miserably as more blood sprang from the deep wound. Had Tatsumi not held back his own hand out of spite then the creature would have been dead.

"Help me out here!" He shouted at both girls bringing them back to the present after they had zoned out looking at him, he picked Teru up resting him on his back, and for a brief moment Teru's eyes barely opened, showing signs of his will to live. "Don't worry Bro, I won't let you die, not here, not like this." Tatsumi assured him while turning around.

"Here, put him on my back," he ordered them whilst giving Mai a strap with a buckle he had taken from his bag. "Make sure you lock it down properly." He reminded the shaking girl, as he felt the strap bind his best friend to his back.

Zipping the bag before him closed, and walking to the window, he threw it down the drop, watching as it it to fell beside the Akugami, he then sheathed the katana and directed both girls onto the wire, instructing them to climb down.

"...But Tatsumi, it's still down there!" Mai protested with shaking hands, backing away from the window.

"What the hell are you saying at a time like this Mai?" Tatsumi gave her a calm deadpan as he became reminiscent on how she was back then as well, simply telling her to do it wouldn't work, u til she was seasoned he'd have to be rough with her. "We don't have time for this, just go!" He yelled in mock frustration at the girl, flashing a quick look at Teru on his back. "We have to go before another one comes through the door!"

While he was talking, Yukiyo started her descent, not taking her eyes off of the monster in pain below rolling and shaking.

"Listen, you're practically a stranger to me, I don't care what you do at this point, if you're with us, come on, but I'm not getting eaten because of you." Tatsumi harshly have her a piece of his mind, while watching Yukiyo hide behind a car from the bellowing Akugami and taking a step to the window himself, but just as he'd expected, Mai grabbed on to his hands, snatching the wire from him, being smarter than she appeared as he was fully aware. "Hurry, it's calming down." he hassled her.

She started her slow descent above the creature, but unbeknownst to them, the wire knot inside of the office had started slipping out when Yukiyo was climbing down, and Tatsumi; being distracted with looking out for Yukiyo, didn't notice the striped wire slowly moving until it loosened completely and Mai started to fall.

She screamed in panic just as Tatsumi grabbed the other end of the wire and tugged it, not taking into account the extra weight he was carrying, because of Teru on his back he lost his balance and fell on his knees, toppling forward to the broken window with shards of glass sticking him in the elbows and tearing at his flesh.Mother-f*****g-s**t!" Tatsumi wheezed and cursed, grinding his teeth from the burden of two people weighing him down and the pain of being attacked by shards of glass, his arms quickly began to tire, and his muscles began to burn from the increasing pressure "Mai!" He shouted out seeing the Akugami finally getting up beneath her. "...I'm gonna let you go!"

"-No, Please don't, I don't wanna die Tatsumi, pull me back up!" The frightened girl pleaded, seeing the mouth of the injured Akugami open beneath her; sharp teeth laced In doubled rows and thick sticky saliva all seemed to put her into a state of shock as she held on to the wire for dear life completely motionless.

Yukiyo was watching from the car she had hidden behind, until she decided upon an action, unsheathing her small blade again she charged at the Akugami, stepping on its tail and being sprung upward when the tail jolted from being touched, and then aiming the tip of her blade at the mould she stabbed it from with all her might.

"No!" Tatsumi shouted, but all too late.

The blade grinded against the creature's hide and slipped off it as if it was skin against oily skin, she had missed the mould by several inches and the rest of the skin wasn't nearly as soft as that one spot, but it felt the tickle nonetheless, and started turning around to greet it's next meal as she lost her footing and fell in front of it.

"Gaa... No!" Breathing heavily from the fatigue, Tatsumi took several sharp breaths while barely swinging his hand and then released Mai and jumped from the window simultaneously, using the pull her weight caused to fall even faster.

"Don't you dare touch her!!" He screamed, pulling his katana and landing sloppily on the Akugami's back.

With another cry of rage, Tatsumi drove the blade straight into the creature's head, being instantly satisfied by the shriek of pain it released as the puncture spouted blood.

He forced it even further down into the Akugami's head hearing the metal rub against the c***k it made in the skull and seeing dark blood richly pouring from the wound,and then it quickly collapsed on it's face, causing him to fall forward and crash on his belly with Teru on his back.

"Are you-" Yukiyo started, but quickly trailed off while helping him up to his feet and seeing the pain he was enduring for their sakes, asking someone if they're okay while seeing them bleed was a stupid thing to do, she regretted even thinking about it. "Tatsumi, you're bleeding...."

"I'd go through hell if it meant saving you Yukiyo, this is nothing." He smiled a crooked and obviously forced smile at her before looking around. "Mai, Are you OK?" He called, limping over to his katana and pulling it out of the skull of the dead monster.

"I'm OK," Mai responded quickly, taking his heavy traveller's bag and resting it on her shoulder.

"Thanks." he smiled at her before looking up and down the street seeing another Akugami approaching in the distant from the latter direction.

"There." He quickly pointed out a van with claw marks on the side and blood all over it. "Is the key still in the ignition?" He asked as Yukiyo began moving toward it. "Hurry." He pressed her; She was a motorhead, so it was always good to keep her around back then, and that proved to be true now when he needed her help.

"Yeah." she answered quickly getting into the driver's seat and turning the key.

Lucky for them, it started right away.

"Let's go." he said haphazardly, limping with Mai's aid to the vehicle.

Putting Teru in from the side and jumping in he tapped Yukiyo's shoulder, telling her to punch it, and he released a lonh breath of relief as the rubber tires screeched on the blood stained asphalt as the fifteen seater vehicle began speeding off to no precise location.

With the Akugami out of sight he finally had time to think, and he did so while tearing away the knees of his pants and picking the awards from his knees as carefully as one could in a moving vehicle, needless to say, his fingers didn't appreciated the abuse, Mai was also there before him helping with her face cloth wrapped around her hand to prevent what he was going through from happening to her.

Pulling Teru closer to him and checking his vitals Tatsumi smiled weakly before opening the small window at the back. "We need to get supplies," he said to Yukiyo, "We can stop at that station at the end of town, get what we need, then get the hell out of here." He informed her as she shifted the gear and the engine roared… It really was beneficial to have a girlfriend who loved vehicles, had he been the one to drive in the first time he experienced all the chaos that came from the apocalypse, be would have surely gotten them all killed much sooner.

They crossed the path of many more Akugami on the road, almost hitting some at some point or another, but after a few frightening detours, sharp turns, near misses, and shortcuts, they finally made it to the end of the town and the gas station before sundown as they had intended to.

"It's long passed midday, we should hurry" he said to the girls, placing Teru in what he assumed was a more comfortable position and closing the door.

"We don't have time for any precautions Yukiyo, keep the engine running while you refill, and fill those as well." He said gesturing to the four three-gallon gas bottles in the back Isle of the van. "Mai, come with me."

"OK" Both girls replied in unison.

Entering the store Tatsumi whispered to Mai to gather non-perishables and water while he searched for a first aid kit, and everything else. The last time he had been here in his previous life they were late and the station was already burnt to the ground, luckily it seemed like the place was alright, but it was a gas station, it would become a target at some point or another and the last thing he needed was a bunch of people gathering to attract Akugami.

The store was thick with an ominously dread silence, items laid scattered on the floors, and shelves were toppled over and the sound of silence ringing in their ears as they walked to the back of the dark aisle discretely, staying as silent as they could, just in case.

Turning the final corner before Tatsumi, Mai came face to face with a smaller Akugami, it had a different appearance than the other ones, and it was eating away at a corpse silently, not even seeming to her.

Mai held her chest as her heart nearly exploded out her blouse, and opening her mouth to scream her lungs out, a pair of hands grabbed her mouth and waist, pulling her back behind the shelf.

"Shhh, it's me, relax." Tatsumi whispered in her ear, and having heard Tatsumi's voice, she unwound in his hands, nodding and allowing him to release her nostrils and mouth for her to breathe again.

He slowly, and silently unsheathed his katana, walking passed her and feeling a strong sense of composure on holding the weapon, he had killed so many of them already because of it, he peered around the corner, but he had assumed that she had seen a common Akugami.

“It's...gone...?” Tatsumi mentally mused as alarm bells began sounding all across his mind and body; there was only one Akugami he knew of that was this stealthy.

And his fears were solidified when he saw a long droplet of saliva stretch from the dark roof down to the tip of the blade.

"No…."