Red Winter - /Haikyuu/

7. Marks of Red

"They're dead." Trauma was hiding in Oikawa's voice, making it obvious that he must have witnessed whatever went down.

Hinata felt his heart drop into his stomach. Dead? He had played games against those boys, he had watched them laugh and talk and have a good time. No one said a thing, no one even bothering to breathe after that bombshell. Hinata heard Oikawa sniffling, and to his surprise, he heard Iwaizumi start to break down as well.

Hinata spotted Sugawara start to cringe in shame. He probably felt bad about asking.

"What about your team?" Oikawa asked after he had pulled himself together.

"We don't know..." Hinata said, his words echoing in the silence. Then, it struck him. "Coach Ukai." He blurted out, and Suga and Kageyama both gave him a slightly concerned look. "Oikawa... You said whatever this is is transferred through a bite?"

"Yeah, we saw them experimenting on someone else they kidnapped. The person turned into a zombie- or, a red, whatever, like ten minutes later." Oikawa explained. Hinata tried swallowing the lump in his throat.

"Coach got bit by one of those crazies on the news." Kageyama said as the realization hung heavy in the air. A silent grieving was strung between the three Karasuno members. After a few minutes of this mutual quietness, the bang of the door opening and shutting caught Hinata's attention. Hinata's eyes widened as he spotted A soldier forcing Yamaguchi along to his own cell.

Yamaguchi's eyes were as wide as a saucer, his posture lackluster as he sat on the stone floor.

"Yamaguchi? What did... What did they do to you?" Hinata asked, causing Sugawara to glance at him and shake his head. Yamaguchi opened his mouth, but no words left as he slumped down, shoulders shivering. Hinata gulped, wondering what happened to him, and who would be next. Yamaguchi inhaled through his nose deeply, exhaling with little force.

"They, the doctor. He..." Yamaguchi stopped in his tracks as he began to weep softly, arms wrapping around himself. "The red. The red." He started rocking back and forth, muttering the word red over and over. He clutched his sides, a sound of complete agony leaving his lips in chopped pieces. "I don't wanna. I don't wanna. Please, I don't wanna." Yamaguchi stopped his movements and his rambling, before he stood up, walking to the bars as he stuck his arm through, turning his forearm to show Hinata.

In the center of Yamaguchi's pale, freckled arm was a set of teeth marks, purple blossoming around it and foaming scarlet dripping. Small bits of skin was missing here and there. Hinata gasped, his face turning as white as a ghost. And, not for the first time that day, he felt the vomit climb its way up his throat, seeking to eject itself from his body.

"Please help me, Hinata! KAGEYAMA! SUGAWARA! PLEASE, PLEASE PLEASE!" Yamaguchi screamed, his head in his hands as he turned hysterical. "I DON'T WANNA BECOME ONE OF THEM! I DON'T WANNA! I DON'T WANNA!" Hinata felt a terrible chill ease its way up his spine at the tormented screams leaving his teammate.

The loud noises only agitated the reds, causing them to bang on the bars and snap at the air with their empty gums. Hinata cowered in the corner of his cell, wishing it would all stop. After it seemed Yamaguchi had had his fill, he quieted down and didn't even seem to breathe. The reds still gnashed their gray and red gums together, the bruised fingers desperately reaching at the nothingness outside their cells.

The gravity of the situation hit Hinata at full force as he realized that Yamaguchi was going to turn into one of those gnashing reds, in only a matter of time. Hinata stayed in the corner and closed his eyes tight, running through everything that had happened in just one day. His mind was still reeling from the revelation that Yamaguchi was bit.

Hinata opened his eyes and looked at Yamaguchi, who was sitting in his cell and staring at the bite with disgust and horror. Hinata let himself drift back into his thoughts, trying to forget every traumatic thing he had seen and experienced. He stayed like this for a long time, it seemed.

And then, Yamaguchi hissing from his cell made him snap up and rush to the bars. "Yamaguchi?!" Suga yelled from his cell, watching on with terror as Yamaguchi started to spasm, convulsing on the floor. His eyes rolled back into his head, foamy spit making an appearance at the corners of his lips. His spasms grew progressively worse as one threw him into the stone wall with a sickening crack.

A second later, two soldiers came rushing in, one Hinata recognized as the woman Suga had attempted to hold as a hostage. The soldiers opened the cage, dragging him out of the hall of cells. Hinata exchanged shocked looks with Kageyama, who seemed just as surprised as Hinata felt. He had never seen someone spasming so violently, and then to accidently throw themselve into the wall. It sounded like something broke, but who knows at this point.

Hinata couldn't believe they had intentionally infected Yamaguchi just for whatever sick experiments they wanted to execute. It made him feel truly disgusted. Yamaguchi was only in high school, and yet, they would do something this cruel. Hinata dropped his head, gaze trained on the floor. He realized just how sheltered he was from the bad in the world. He was so naive. It irked him that these lunatics had been living in the same world as him while his ignorance left him in the bliss of his sheltered life. And now, here he was.

A chill drifted through the atmosphere a moment later, the door opening. Hinata half expected it to be Yamaguchi, but as the figure stepped into the light, their tall stature and cynical smile gave them away. It was Sergeant. Sergeant walked leisurely, ignoring the decaying reds around him and the glares of the boys as his gun clanked. He finally made it to Hinata's cell.

Sergeant's icy, distant blue eyes stared right through his soul, it seemed. Hinata shivered in fear, swallowing harshly as his eyes trailed down to Sergeant's hand, which was unlocking his cell. No, no, no! Hinata didn't want to become one of them. He had to fight back. Hinata waited for Sergeant to make a move for him, before chomping down on Sergeant's hand. Sergeant gasped in pain, and Hinata took that moment to wrap his arms around the big man and tug his shirt down.

As he was tugging the man down, Hinata's eyes got a glimpse of Kageyama's and Suga's shocked faces. It seemed his reflexes and fast movements from volleyball would serve him well in this new world.

"Why you little!" Sergeant spat, and Hinata's heart practically dropped to his stomach as he felt Sergeant's calloused hand work its way through his hair, tugging on his scalp and lifting him off. White hot pain shot through his head as he yelled. Sergeant gritted his teeth as a grin crossed his face, yellow teeth wet with saliva. "Oh, I am going to enjoy breaking you, you little brat." He kneed Hinata in the stomach, and the pain was so intense he saw stars.

"Hinata! Hinata, no!" He vaguely heard what sounded like Suga's voice as another blow hit his stomach. His vision went blurry and he felt like he had lost all of his senses. Hinata felt himself be picked up and slung across Sergeant's shoulder, the last thing he saw in the hall of cells being the worried faces of Kageyama and Sugawara.