Chapter Text
“There’s a house I haven’t seen before.” Bel’s voice startled Mammon out of her thoughts. She glanced over at him, and saw he was pointing to something. Her eyes followed his hand, and she stared off to the place where he pointed. The woman squinted, a house covered in vines and general plants had taken over the exterior. She saw some vines that had started snaking their way through the windows and inside. The white painting that once decorated the house was flaking off. The grass in front of the house was overgrown, she could hardly even see the staircase leading to the front door. Once upon a time, that house must have been beautiful, but time had not been kind to it. Mammon and her squad walked closer to the house, wary of their surroundings. Prepared for anything that could happen. She glanced up, and noticed that one of the windows on the second floor had been barricaded off.
Once they were close to the front door, Bel kicked it down. Dust flew everywhere as it fell down with a crash. A small animal ran squealing in front of them, and disappeared into one of the dark corners of the room. The four of them coughed as the dust cleared, the stench from the inside made Mammon gag. Oregano gave Bel a harsh glare.
“You could’ve tried opening it first, you know.” she scoffed, motioned to the door handle. “Those are there for a reason.” Mammon rolled her eyes at them, found her flashlight, and held it ready. Once Oregano and Bel’s bickering quieted down, Mammon strained her ears for any sounds. Bel took a step in the house, his hands behind his head as he walked casually in.
“That boy is gonna get killed one day.” Shoichi muttered under his breath, before he found his flashlight as well. His hand twitching nervously over the sword in his belt. Mammon looked around the room, the floor was but a mess of empty cans, wood splinters, broken glass. The walls were no better, deep cracks in them.
“Let’s head upstairs.” Mammon looked over at Oregano, nodded. The stairs creaked in protest as they stepped on it, Mammon wasn’t sure it would even hold them up. Once upstairs, they looked around. Nothing was out of the ordinary, Bel walked off and Shoichi walked after him. Oregano rolled her eyes. “I’ll be on guard.”
Mammon went off on her own - they had heard nothing and if something were to happen, she knew she could take care of herself. Nothing slipped past Oregano, so she felt safer than she should. Down the hallway, she thought that once upon a time the wallpapers must’ve been really beautiful. Now they were a strange faded red colour, ripped down some places and it showed off the wood that the wallpaper had been glued on. She walked to the last room, the last door in the hallway. The door was still standing, surprisingly enough. There were some strange claw marks on the door. Like something had been desperately trying to get in. She placed her hand on the doorknob, tried to open the door. It was no surprise that it was locked, and with something still blocking its path. Mammon took a step back, before she kicked the door with all her might.
The door flew open, crashed against the wall on the other side. She stood prepare to fight if anything came out, but other than more dust, nothing happened. A stench of death hit her, and she placed a handkerchief in front of her face. The small woman stepped inside the room, turned her flashlight on. The yellow light from the old flashlight was the only light source in the room. Planks had been nailed in front of the windows, planks had been nailed in front of the door. Some of the planks lay in front of the door, as if someone had been there before her. The place was old, so it had probably been so. She looked around, old, empty cans littered the floor.
She moved the flashlight, and lit up one of the wall on the other side. The sight that met her startled her, and she unconsciously took a step backwards. A decomposing body leaned against a wall, a splatter of old, dried blood on the wall. The corpse’s hand seemed to have been holding something - perhaps a gun? But whatever it was, it was long gone. Looted by other people scavenging. On the other side of the corpse, under his left hand and against the wall, was something. Mammon walked closer, her eyes narrowed as she reached the corpse. She reached for the item, grabbed it from the corpse’s grip. Mammon almosted expected the corpse to move, to lurch at her and attack. But this was so different from the other she had seen.
The object showed out to be a small book. A leatherbound book. She inspected it, it seemed like it was of a really good quality. Perhaps it was something she could trade? Mammon opened the book, thumbed quickly through it. Seeing it was already filled with words, filled her with disappointment. It wouldn’t be as valuable as an empty one. The curiosity got the better of her, and she decided to actually read through the journal. Sitting down on the floor, leaning against the wall under a window she started.
Day #1
I suppose that usually, one would start off by writing the date and place for such a journal. But I know neither of these things. I’m not sure what day it is. I’m not sure what date it is. I’m not completely certain where we are. Keeping track of anything has become meaningless. I don’t need to know the date, or the place I’m at to be aware of what I have to do.
I - we - have to get away from here. In order to survive, we have to get away from this place.
I do, however, know that it’s been roughly three days since it started. Tsuna - my best friend - disagrees. He told me it had to be more. With everything that has happened, I understand where it comes from. But we’ve seen four sunsets and three sunrises, logically that would mean it’s been three days?
I decided to pick up this journal as a way for me to remember everything that’s happening, a way of describing this… this indescribable mess. Someone has to do it, and I just happened to find this empty book. Perhaps that was fate telling me about my duty.
Perhaps I should write something about the current situation. Right now, we’re safe. Or, well, as safe as anyone can be, really. We found an unoccupied house, and we barricaded the front door with what furniture we could find. Then we went upstairs, found this bedroom/bathroom. Dino moved the wardrobe in front of the door, and Yamamoto noticed that there were water in the taps we could drink. Tsuna helped Ryohei with the wound he got on his arm. We’re just five people; me, Tsuna, Yamamoto, Ryohei and Dino. There’s a lot I could write about them, but I have neither the time nor the space to do so.
I’m not sure what we’re dealing with. The things don’t seem to notice when we shoot at them - unless we hit their heads. They don’t seem to notice when I chop off their fucking arm. They don’t seem to get hungry, and they can’t run. I need to study them some more.
Speaking of self-defence; three of us are wielding guns, Tsuna, Dino and Yamamoto. Me and Ryohei only have our fists, and whatever else we can find. I carried an ax up until yesterday, then I had to discard it. One of those… creatures attacked me, and I didn’t have any other options. At least I left it in its fucking skull. We don’t have enough ammo for anything, I think those three only have five bullets left. There’s no way we’re gonna survive with only that.
Sometimes I fear we’re the only ones left.