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Winding Journey

Chapter 3: Rationing

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(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

The news that Conan had probably been turned into a buggy killing machine was bad news that could only have been worse if they'd figured this out by witnessing it. The kid was already hellbent on hunting things down, and good at it, as it was. They didn't need that on their tail.

At least no one had wanted to try to get that last two hours of sleep. He definitely wouldn't be able to after waking up to all that.

They were making as decent of progress as you could when having absolutely no clue where you were going, and were far away from the scene of Conan's 'death' by noon.

Even if they couldn't charge their phones (the whole 'powered facility' thing was really freaking him out, but at least they weren't walking through a pitch black facility overrun with creep) Hakuba at least had his pocket watch and a pretty good handle on the progression of time.

And he had a couple flashlights on him, so if they ever ran into that kind of problem they wouldn't be completely helpless.

It would just suck.

They stepped through a doorway and into what could be a cafeteria. Long benches and tables, most toppled over, some broken into pieces, filled the room. This place was too fucking big. What the hell was going on down here before the zerg moved in?

A low creak from the ceiling had Kaito ready to bolt. They made their way across the room. Nothing fell.

"There might be something edible in here..." Heiji spoke up. Kaito was kind of sick of hearing him today, to be honest. This room didn't feel stable.

"--Oh. Let's try through there." Kaito wanted to punch the fucking wall.

"I don't like being in here," he warned, tone lilting. "Something's going to fall on us."

Heiji stopped abruptly and shot him a look. Worried. Oh, that was a good sign.

"But we really need water, and if they have some..." Kazuha wasn't wrong .

Damn it. Damn it. She was right .

"Okay. Mouri and I'll go, everyone else get through the door and wait for us." Fast reflexes would at least help them not die trying.

"...Are you sure? It feels wrong to split up..." Kazuha added, clearly nervous. Kaito held in the urge to roll his eyes at her.

"Do you want someone to check or not?"

"It'll be okay, Kazuha, we'll be quick," Ran added, brushing an arm into his side as she started toward the door to what looked like it had to be a kitchen.

Oh there'd better not be a trove of zerg gorging themselves back there.

Eyes tracking everything around and above him, Kaito followed her. She looked just as uncomfortable as he felt, and was also scanning the place.

He felt solidly like he'd made the right choice.

The good news was that it was really a kitchen. The bad news was that there wasn't any power inside for some reason. Ran stood almost against his side, tense. He pulled out a flashlight.

The lightbulb was smashed to pieces. Kaito drew in a slow breath, and let his flashlight wander the area.

Stainless steel appliances and dusty countertops. Dead silence. Kaito stepped up onto one of the counters, light trained on the corner of the room he couldn't see before, skin prickling and adrenaline picking up as his eyes met an old sunken, bloody mess.

He wanted to go

There was plenty to check in the room that wasn't on the corpse's side, so he lowered himself back down and silently started to go through the drawers.

The knives were sharp, but didn't have any kind of sheath, so he left them for now.

Rags--he nabbed a couple in case they needed to close a wound, cutlery, plates, bowls--oh hell yes. A pack of water.

He pulled it out. There weren't any labels, so he pulled one off of its plastic holder and screwed the cap off to sniff it.

Smelled fine...

"Cans," he heard Ran whisper excitedly, and he turned his flashlight to where he'd heard the voice with wide eyes--she was across the table from him.

She stood with two armfuls of canned food, and he watched her squint away from the light, toward...

She didn't scream, but absolutely leapt backwards at the thing laying there. She lost most of the cans, which clattered into the table and off the floor, rolling.

"That's good," Kaito kept his voice calm. They didn't need anything else that could attract zerg--the ducts here were too big for comfort. "Just don't look at it. Or think about it. I'll grab some--."

Something in the main room ripped with a sickening grinding sound--and then he heard a distant shout.

Kaito threw the water at the counter and charged out of the room. That sounded like Saguru--

Kazuha and Heiji were stepping through the door, faces locked on--

A hole in the floor.

No no no. 

A glance at the ceiling told him Saguru at least hadn't been crushed by anything--but that didn't mean the fall was survivable--

Shining the flashlight down--the floor had fallen at an angle, shit, fuck.

Kaito put the flashlight in his teeth and jumped in.

He, at least, was able to control the way he went down. It wasn't an even slide--a piece of rebar mot notably jutting out and he really fucking hoped not actually as slick as it looked at the glance he'd gotten--and it was far enough to put them down into the next level.

Except, it seemed, judging by all the dirt and moisture, that there wasn't another level under them, and Saguru'd just fallen into a burrow.

Saguru was huddled at the end of it, breathing and conscious and grabbing onto him the moment he was close enough.

Kaito passed the flashlight into a hand. "Are you hurt?"

Saguru let out a shuddering breath--it didn't sound wet. "Yes."

"Where?" An arm wrapped around his side as his hand paused in its search.

"Leg."

The flashlight revealed a dark smear running from Saguru's ankle to just below the knee. Kaito set down the flashlight between his thigh and hip, and pulled out a knife to cut away the fabric obscuring the wound.

It wasn't as terrible of a gash as he'd feared: three inches long and just below the knee.

He used the fabric he already had in his hands to help stem the bleeding. They needed to get him to a hospital--no way he wasn't getting an infection...

"I think that's it, aside from some bruises I'll be getting later. I didn't hit my head."

"I told you to stay out of the room," Kaito ground out. 

"I heard something--"

"We found water and cans, and Mouri got spooked and dropped them. What would you have been able to do, anyway? I still have the gun from when I was on watch last night."

Saguru let out a huff. "Apologies for being worried about you."

"You don't--" Kaito started, then cut off as his entire body froze. Something brushed against his mind, probing, curious, searching.

He whipped around to shine the light down the burrow. Nothing. Hungry blackness.

"--Kaito?"

He turned back and hoisted Saguru over his shoulder, then propelled the both of them back up the new hole in the ground powered entirely by adrenaline. He pushed past the other three when he made it back to solid ground, and charged through the door before he started feeling his muscles and joints protest the last ten seconds, and he set Saguru down, staring back at the rest of them as they grabbed the food and water Ran must've taken over and also booked it to the newer part of the underground complex.

"What the hell was that?" Heiji hissed, the water over his shoulder.

"Something noticed me."

He couldn't just keep carrying Saguru... He could maybe even walk on his own, but running was another question entirely.

"What do you mean 'something noticed you'? Should we be running?"

"Yeah, Hattori, can you carry him?"

"Kaito," Oh, he knew what that tone meant. "I'm going to slow everyone down."

"Complain later, we're moving now--Hattori?"

"Yeah, here," Hattori said, shoving the water back into his arms.

Kaito waited, all nerves and impatient, as Heiji got Saguru situated as quickly as he could without worsening anything, and then they were off.

They managed a quick pace, Heiji clearly pushing himself. Kaito couldn't complain. 

Please let an exit come up soon...something....stairs up, an elevator, anything.

They needed something that would put a physical barrier between them and what was now trying to find them--even better would be a branching path--could zerg track by scent? If they got close enough could they just track mental signals? 

An elevator sounded really good right now.

Eventually they found a door that led to another dead end--this one with an office setup of some sort, some levers and buttons spread on an array in front of a blank, old fashioned monitor. The door was solid enough noise wasn't going to be too much of a problem, there weren't large ducts like the kitchen had had--or anyone decomposing, win-win-- and there was enough room for all of them to squeeze in. In theory, no one wanted to stop, but in practice they all needed food and water, especially Heiji, who had worked up a sweat. 

"...What time is it, anyway?" Kaito asked, systematically opening every drawer he could find. Pencils, eraser, paper, oh wow a toothbrush, staple remover, gum (fossilized)... 

"A little after seven PM."

"Mm. Might as well get some rest. I guess. Oh--Who wants a gun?" Once that was out of the drawer he could see a small, red box. "And bullets!"

"Are they the same model as the other one?" Saguru asked from his new home in the office chair. 

"Nope! Smaller magazine though, looks like it can take nine at a time, and we've got..." He gave the box a small shake before opening it. "Twenty-three."

"If we get out of this, we're getting arrested," Kazuha muttered. She had no idea how hilariously familiar that sentiment was to him. He shot Saguru a smug look. It didn't really hit him, eyes almost vacant.

Kaito let out a subtle sigh. 

"If we can get through this we can avoid a little arrest. That doesn't sound so hard," he quipped. At least they weren't thirsty or hungry anymore...

"...Alright, whoever takes watch tonight gets the new gun, since I have the best aim here. Who's it gonna be?"

"I can keep watch." Kaito heaved a much more audible, exaggerated sigh.

"You need sleep, and so does Hattori, so if one of the ladies here would like to take watch, I'll gladly hand this off."

Instead of answering him, Ran stood, walked to him, and took the pistol and ammo.

...Alright. He clearly wasn't the only one who was tense right now.

After she moved to sit back down he came over and crouched next to her.

"You know how to use it?"

Dark eyes regarded him for a long moment before she responded. "It looks like it works just like the other one."

"The safety's in a different spot."

"Wh--Oh. It's that, right?"

"Yeah, it's off right now."

She nodded, and he moved back and then shuffled over on the ground until he was next to Saguru's legs. He gave the slacks next to him a pat, then started checking on the bandages. He'd really hoped there'd be a med kit of some sort in here, or at least an antiseptic or painkillers, but no, whoever worked here last had preferred gum to painkillers.

He had tweezers on him, at least, and could get rid of some of the grime without reopening the wound.

"...Maybe we should have gone right." Ran said. Kaito turned around to see her and learned that the entire room seemed to be zoning out in his and Saguru's direction.

"What--Are you kidding me?" Kaito started, disbelief strong in his voice as he gestured at Heiji. "This guy just woke up this morning from a reverse-prophetic dream that turned out to be one-hundred percent true. If we went right we would've been eaten days ago." 

Ran ran a finger down along the glasses she now had tucked into her shirt, expression introspective. 

"Personally, I'd love to find an elevator," he added, turning his eyes back to Saguru's injury. "A working elevator. That goes up. To the surface."

Kazuha let out a low sigh. "Man, an elevator..."

"The things I wouldn't do," Heiji added. "...And a hot meal. And a fuckin' bed."

The room sat in quiet agreement after that.

-

Kaito opened his eyes, blinking. His back was a little stiff, pressed into the wall from his perch on the desk, but Saguru's head was still in his lap, so all in all it was a decent morning so far.

A quick glance around the room, and Kazuha had swapped with Ran for the morning shift of watch, Hattori dead to the world and getting dangerously close to snoring. Food and water had done a lot for them. He idly twisted one of the soft curled bits of hair in his lap around a finger. Was Saguru asleep?

A quiet hum and a small inviting shift of his head to the side, and Saguru was definitely awake. He obligingly ran his fingers down the side of his head, to his neck, and then up again, eliciting a small, contented sigh.

"...Did you sleep?" Kaito kept his voice close to silent.

"A little," Saguru said with equal volume. The head in his lap leaned back until warm brown eyes were staring back at him, brow furrowed, lips pulled in a worry that felt bone deep.

"I know you're opposed, but if I stayed here you'd make double the time easy."

Kaito shifted his shoulders slightly. Of course Saguru was asking for this. Kaito just hated it.

"Imagine," Kaito started, voice still hushed. "I leave you behind, and in, say, four hours we find the exit, then I come back to get you and you're gone. Think about how much guilt I'd feel for that."

Saguru let out a sharp sigh. "You know me too well."

"I'm not leaving you."

"I understand."

Kaito settled back into the only form of people watching that existed right then. At least everyone here knew he wasn't a creep for staring at them in their sleep. Mentally, he was running through a map of the area they'd been in so far. Unless they started making longer right turns, an end had to be coming up in the next day or two. That end just needed to involve some way out.

Kaito felt himself jump slightly when Ran sat bolt upright, then put a hand to her head.

He breathed. Just another nightmare. No one else was reacting to anything.

Kaito leaned in a little closer to Saguru. "...Time?"

"Three AM." Ugh. That was what he got for going to sleep around nine. At least time didn't really matter down here...

He watched Ran stare at the door. Kazuha was in a similar boat, waving a hand at her that didn't get a reply. Man, she was out of it. 

She stood. Did...she need to go take a leak?

She just stood there, staring, face drawn up in a look somewhere between heavy concentration, and utter confusion.

Okay, was she still asleep? Something was wrong here...

Heiji even woke up at that point, eyes bleary and lost, and then there was a knock at the door.

Not just one, three steady knocks. 

No one moved. 

No one was down here. The only other people were corpses--but this was an office that someone had clearly been using before--but then why knock?

Ran finally moved, turning her head to look around the room, that same expression on her face.

She walked toward the door. Kaito pulled out the pistol he still had from the last time he was on watch, and waited.

The door opened. Kaito had a clear view through it.

Half obscured by the doorframe, was Edoagawa Conan.

He leveled the gun with the eye he could see, fear bubbling up in a wave. There was no way he was just fine.

"Ran...?" A small, coarse voice asked through the dead silence, sending a cold shiver down Kaito's spine. 

Ran held out a hand. Conan reached a dark, gnarled, clawed arm and hand up to hold hers. He watched her flinch back, then extend her hand out again, and then a smile broke out on Conan's face, and he moved, and Kaito saw that that small part of his face was where the familiar Conan ended, and the multiple eyes and armored plates began.

She picked him up; he wrapped a wide, rounded tail around her side, mismatched limbs around her back in a hug. What--

Infested lost their minds--they ripped people apart.

Two dull eyes, set in a row, locked on him. 

"Kudou-- Yer in there!?"

The attention on him broke as Conan turned to look at Heiji.

There was a long silence before Heiji responded to what Kaito had to assume was some unspoken conversation with, "Fuck--", before he reached a hand over to touch the infested child's back. 

Was...Was everything really just fine? It didn’t look fine.

"Okay," Kaito started, turning the safety on for now. "How is he conscious?"

"He--Oh you didn't hear that. He woke up before he was supposed to I guess? He doesn't know."

"Heiji--" Kazuha butted in, confused. "What do you mean, 'Kudou'--that's Conan--are they related, or...?"

"No, me. It. Is me." That same small, cracking voice came from Ran's arms. "Can. Show you."

Apparently on cue, Ran set Conan down. 

Kaito watched in horror as the compact and dangerous predator on the floor just. Grew. Until he was almost the same height as the rest of them and probably the weight of a car or a horse or something, that nasty looking tail barb as long as his head, now. And that was a really bad mental image he needed out of his head.

Apparently. Conan had been Shin’ichi the whole time. That was great news; now the guy who'd stolen a cop’s gun during a heist was a clawed. Armored. Killing machine in this very small room with them.

"How--What--And you knew?!" Kazuha's shrill voice filled the room. "Ran was so worried, and you knew ?"

"I...kind of figured...but...Shin'ichi?" Three eyes turned back on Ran.

"Does that...hurt?"

"No. Not since. Old Hive."

"--There's a new hive?" Kaito needed to know what that meant. One of the eyes in Shin’ichi's scalp blinked at him.

"No, not like. That. Just. Stragglers. Lonely."

"E--K--Kudou...kun..." Saguru's voice brought Kaito's attention back immediately. "Do you know how to get out of here?"

Kudou went from almost standing vertically, to dropped on all fours in Saguru's direction, and Kaito clicked the safety back off.

"Yes."

"Great, how far is it?" Kaito asked. This guy was looking really thin. It hadn’t been clear when he was smaller, but there was a definite gauntness to him.

The mouth opened, sharp teeth suddenly very visible, and then something stalled, eyes just to Kaito's side. He didn't take his eyes off him.

"...Are you thirsty?" Ran's voice, before she moved in and took one of the bottles of water from their pack. If that would help sate whatever was missing from his diet, Kaito had zero objections.

He didn't really like the way the bottle just...disappeared into his mouth. That was disturbing.

Shin’ichi sat back onto his haunches for a moment, something mandible-like working at the inhuman side of his face. It stopped at once, and then his eyes focused just below Kaito.

"Exit's burrowed. Can show."

"--There's no normal exit? People work here, don't they? The lights are still on..."

Kaito petered off when he watched the small bumps along the back of Shin’ichi's carapace lengthen into points, tail raising just barely off the ground. 

"No. They're. Bad. Hive is safe." 

Kaito stared. Clearly the infestation hadn't completely missed his brain, but he wasn't openly attacking them, so...

It was really the best shot they had, wasn't it?

"Okay, but how far away is it?" He asked, eyeing the still lengthened pointes on Shinichi’s natural armor.

The mandible twitched in response. He'd really appreciate if it didn't

"Runs almost overhead. Should be safe to cross burrow with new one."

"--And you can just do that? From anywhere?"

"No--and no. I'm not made to dig. There's a good spot for it in hallway."

"...If you can't dig then how exactly are we going to make a new burrow out?"

"Hive."

Kaito fell silent, an uncomfortable feeling running down his spine. "...How many more are there?"

"Three. Outside."

"And they aren't going to eat us."

"No. Never."

"On whose orders?" Zerg apparently always followed orders.

"Mine."

Kaito took a deep breath. The exception to that rule was, of course, whoever was in charge. It didn't exactly feel strange of Conan or Shin’ichi to be in command, since even grown men--cops--listened to what the guy had to say, but he was definitely still part human. Could he actually have real say over them? Well...He hoped so. 

Three actual, full blooded Zerg were right behind that door though. Yikes.

"--Were you guys like, mentally talking or somethin'?" Kazuha asked. Kaito turned his attention back to Saguru when Shin’ichi turned to look at her.

"Think you can walk today?" The other two human occupants started in on exactly the explanation he'd expected. 'Yes, he's in their heads and not speaking so much as sending a big flood of unorganized information.' He felt it yesterday when he was down in that pit. Though, they were describing something a lot more coherent than he'd felt.

"Yes, Kaito. I can walk. If there's an infection it hasn't started interfering yet."

And the likelihood of infection was only going to worsen the longer they stayed down here.

"...This is insane."

"This entire journey has been unorthodox, and this is certainly the most bizarre part. It genuinely feels like the best course of action, and if the four of them wanted us dead I sense we would have been made aware by now."

Kaito hummed in response. That sounded right.

Gods, he wanted to go home--Maybe, if they did make it out of this, he'd treat himself to some hang gliding. Or, maybe just give himself some quality time laying on the roof of a skyscraper with a good view.

Shin’ichi backed up toward the door, then pushed himself back into a mostly upright position again. Kaito's eyes landed on the sharp, two foot long scythe blades tucked against his sides.

Fucking figured he had those.

Shin’ichi's animal-looking hand pressed dexterouslessly down on the door's handle, and he disappeared behind it, apparently holding it open for them.

"Alright. Might as well be happening," he muttered, sliding off the table and waiting for Saguru to stand. It wasn't long before he was filing out the door after Kazuha, Saguru the last out the door.

There were definitely three other Zerg: two of the short, squat, foot soldier types, and the last was tall, snake-like, and teeming with small, too long limbs, the bigger of them ending in even longer, and more wickedly curved claws than the rest.

The worst part might've been the free swinging split lower jaw, though.

Kazuha was firmly attached to Ran's side, and both she and Heiji were keeping Shin'ichi between them and the rest of the Zerg.

Nothing lunged at them. Kaito watched them shift, limbs occasionally twitching. 

He'd never actually seen any up close, and he hadn't ever wanted to, but he was especially glad now that he was that they didn't seem intent to kill anyone here. 

"It's after the turn down there," Shin'ichi said, gesturing down the way they'd come from. 

They moved forward in a line, Heiji coming up to stand close to Kazuha's other side, and Kaito taking the end for his own peace of mind. Having Saguru not at the end of the line would give him at least some peace of mind.

Supposedly, hopefully, this was going to be the final stretch, and after they turned this corner they could kiss this damn place goodbye forever and never come back. 

It didn't feel real. He didn't know what he expected to happen, but getting to the surface didn't feel like it.

One of the smaller two--zerglings Kazuha had called them--was getting its face too close to Saguru for comfort. Kaito kicked its head out of the way, and magically didn't lose a foot doing it.

Four Zerg, all in varying states of starvation, probably, and five fleshy young humans. Damn. They should have thought to offer some of the canned food. He'd feel a little better if they had. Zerg could digest just about anything right? They'd've appreciated it.

Kaito looked down at a quick movement to see that same zergling back again, swooping in, mandibles spread.

Fuck --

He turned his body this time to plant a carefully aimed kick to the thing's cranium. It let out a croaking sound, and then a low, chittering sound brought Kaito's attention behind him.

Shin'ichi was down on all fours again, tail raised high over his head, and two curved plates at his upper back moving in a blur and making the noise Kaito'd heard--his mouth was open menacingly, the mandible was lined with small sharp rows on its underside, and his two Zerg eyes were glowing.

Kaito slammed into Saguru to push him out of the way just as a high pitched shriek left Shin'ichi's lungs and he lunged forward, landing just in front of the zergling that had made a move for Saguru's leg.

The entire group backed several more feet away, the rest of the Zerg standing still.

The zergling lunged forward, driving its scythe arms into the ground as Shin'ichi ducked to the side and made a cut with his own, matching limb. 

The zergling stumbled back, then slunk away toward the far wall, still emitting the same ear splitting noise Shin'ichi was. A thud from next to him sent Kaito's head whipping to the side. Kazuha was on the ground with her hands over her ears.

A loud sound brought Kaito's eyes back to the fight. Shin'ichi's tail was lowering to the ground, smooth at the end except for a hole where the barb should have been. The Zergling was slowly flexing its limbs, now splayed on the floor, a boney nub that had to be the missing barb embedded almost completely into its side, just behind the front leg.

The screeching had stopped. The room was utterly silent.

Then the remaining two Zerg lunged forward, tearing into the wounded one's body. 

Shin'ichi turned and came toward them, looking the group over and lingering on Kazuha.

"I'm sorry. That. That should sate for now. No more problems."

"What about you?" Kaito imagined the four of them had been in similar states of hungry, and that meant Shin'ichi was technically starved enough to act desperately. That gnawing hunger he'd felt earlier was a pretty good clue, at least.

Shin'ichi looked at him, a slight frown on his face. "Catch rats on the surface after getting you out, maybe."

"We can. We can bring you food, Shin'ichi," Ran said, now crouching next to Kazuha, who still looked shell shocked, hands still cupping her ears.

"Dangerous. Don't," He said with a shake of his head. "Less attention at entrance is best. Is she...Okay?"

Ran sighed. "No." 

Shin'ichi's tail rolled in under itself, and he suddenly looked a lot less intimidating.

"...Almost out. Soon. I'm sorry."

"You--You can't just live like this forever right? You're starvin', aren't you?" Kaito didn't like where Heiji seemed to be going with this.

Shin'ichi turned uncomfortable eyes on Heiji, who continued: "Wouldn't it make sense for us ta' take you back? We could smuggle you in somewhere."

"That isn't your house," Kaito shot back, a bad feeling rising in his brain. "Don't invite people into someone else's home."

"If Kazuha was alright with living with Saguru-kun, then I think it might be fine if we took him to my house, but..." Ran ran a hand over Kazuha's hair. "If I came back tomorrow night, or the night after, would you come out to see me?"

Shin'ichi's face contorted, and if there was an answer to that question, it wasn't verbal.

Heiji was standing near Kazuha as well, now. Kaito turned back to Saguru.

"You live with Hattori, do you know if there's a reason she's so..."

Saguru nodded, eyes fixed on the Zerg feast wrapping up across the hall from them. "She was in the direct impact area of the invasion in Osaka when it happened. I don't know many specifics, but I feel that's enough of an answer."

Oh. Fuck. The concept of hiding from a legion of those things--

Nope. He didn't want to think about it. 

Notes:

why is conan/shinichi back in the place it started? >:3c We'll get there