Till the end

Chapter 57

He did it. Midorima had delivered my child. I closed my eyes and turned my face the moon. I was a father. I felt a tear run down my face, leaving a clean mark through the dirt, blood and grime.

I was father but I would never gaze upon my child's face.

I glanced down at my hand that still grasped my sword. I couldn't even make my fingers move to release it. I couldn't move my body at all. I had truly reached my limit. Looking over my shoulder I saw Mayuzumi leaning against Kagami as Aomine quickly bandaged up his wounds. They were all alive and mostly unharmed. We had survived.

At the furthest reaches of my senses I could feel more infected out there but for some reason they were frozen in the spot as if unsure of their next move. I didn’t know why they were hesitating but it would give the time to escape.

A droplet of water hit my cheek and I looked up in surprise to see clouds blocking out the sky. My heart lightened at the sight. this was perfect. The rain would completely wash away Kuroko's scent. My family would be safe.

"Return to the caves!"

I shouted as the clouds opened up. It quickly soaked me to my bones but I was glad of it because it washed away all the blood and cooled my screaming body.

"Blow the entrance. There is plenty of supplies to last you a few weeks. After that there is a small passage that leads out. Mayuzumi and I covered it up so nobody would stumble upon it but it will be easy to clear."

"Why are you telling us this Akashicchi?"

I glanced at the blonde who was brushing his soaking hair out of his face. They were only a few metres away but the space could have been thousands of metres. Bodies littered the ground between us and I could feel the infected surging towards us again.

"I need you to look after Tetusya and our child. I won't make it. I went too far, my body, its done."

At last my hands unclenched and the sword fell into the mud forming around me. I looked at the once proud sword now muddied and blunt by so many strikes. Like me it was worn and battered. Our time had come. We had fought the good fight and now we were finished.

"What are you talking about? We aren't leaving you!"

"Go now! Another wave is coming! You have to hide before they sense you. I will be your decoy."

As I said that the first of the infected cleared the tree line. They were moving slower, more unsure. They would have lost the scent of Kuroko's blood, the reason for their fury but they could still sense prey before them. I watched them lurch towards me. it was strange, to see death approach so, so slowly. I had always thought that it would be quick. An arrow, a slash of a sword or a gnash of teeth but here it was. Stumbling agonisingly slowly towards me, one step at a time.

I turned my face towards the sky but it was now dark with clouds and the fires had sizzled away to nothing. I guess it was too much to hope for a peaceful death with the stars and the moon.

"Mitsuki. If it's a girl, Mitsuki!"

I called out, hoping they would hear me as they rushed inside.

"And if it's a boy. Well."

I glanced at the figure who was now in front of me. Its eyes were the milky ones of the undead, seemingly unseeing but it felt like it was looking inside of me, looking at my blood and my beating heart. The rain streamed down its body, washing off the stench and the grime that normally covered its kind but it couldn't do anything about the teeth. It bared them at me, yellow, stained red and full of blood.