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"Agglomeration"Written By: The Plotting Housewife Disclaimer: Gundam Wing belongs to Bandai, Sotsu
and associated Parties. This work is written for pleasure not profit. Rating: NC 17 Warnings: Graphic
Violence, Gore, Rape/Noncon, Zombie
Apocalypse, Drama Pairings: Trowa/Quatre,
Duo/Wufei, Duo/Hilde (past) Summary: Sequel to Last Man Standing. The remaining four Gundam pilots fight to survive in the new world. Notes:
I had already started to write this story before I responded to ClaraxBarton's
prompt. I decided to make it a prequel to this one, instead of having
two separate zombie apocalypse stories in a row. :) "Still Here" Duo drove the machete down into the skull of the Undead's head. Its jaws clamped and snapped for another few seconds before going lax. He stared at the rotting flesh up close and personal and sneered as its legs gave out and it finally dropped to its knees. He pressed his foot on the decomposed shoulder and wrenched the blade out of its head. It dropped face first to the ground with a sickening splat. He could hear another one approaching from behind, felt the cold slime of its slobber on his bare shoulder and he spun quickly, swinging the blade. It sliced through the rotted neck, the head separating from its body. Cold, congealed blood spurted out onto his arms and he shook them in disgust as he gazed at his lover with tired eyes. Wufei's eyes reflected the lassitude, identical in every way. How long had it been since they'd slept? Really slept. The remains of the small herd lay scattered around them, fallen by their hands. Duo stared up at the rising sun, breath coming hard and fast. Another day. Another day of barely getting by, surviving only to fight these Undead monsters. The virus that caused this phenomenon spread like wildfire throughout the human population, both on Earth and in the colonies. In the early days of the outbreak, Duo had heard innumerable amounts of rumors and conspiracy theories, many of them as outlandish as the strange anomaly itself. While the theory that the world's governments had engineered the virus was a plausible one, Duo much preferred the explanation that the Earth had simply decided it was time for a rebirthing. Overpopulation, wars, senseless violence, deforestation, famine, disease. Oh yes, they were overdue to be taken down a few pegs on the food chain. And they had, big time considering these things had a taste for human flesh. It spread so fast because a simple bite from an infected person would result in more infection, death, and finally, reanimation. It happened quickly, too. Society fell fast and hard. The fragile grasp humankind held on civilization crumbled like dust in the wind. In less than two weeks, the intricate power grid failed, engulfing the planet and colonies in darkness. Without electronic communication, there was no way of knowing where the safe zones were, if there were any left. Food was scarce and they had taken to scavenging what they could and hunting the rest. Thankfully, the virus seemed contained only in humans so animals were safe to eat. They ran rampant through the countryside and the cities, without mass numbers of humans to keep their population under control, which worked in their favor. They were constantly on the move, had to be. It was impossible to settle anywhere. It was never long before a herd would find them. Before surviving stragglers would come to take what they had. Being in almost constant motion had been something they'd all done during the wars. It was something they were accustomed to so they adapted relatively quickly. A snap of twigs and the crunch of footsteps on dead leaves alerted their senses and they turned to see Trowa and Quatre emerge from the trees with their supper. Four rabbits and Duo breathed a sigh of relief. They would eat well tonight. They camped out under the cover of the forest. The fallen tree branches, sticks, and twigs served as an alarm system of sorts as the footsteps of the Undead, or anyone else that could cause them harm would be heard from a good distance. Still, they set up a perimeter of primitive traps with twine and tin cans. Holes, deep enough to hold the Undead, dug around their sleeping area should anything slip through. They had not only them to worry about, but also the living. It was every man for himself now. People took what they wanted through violence and force. It was a cruel and ugly world, even worse than it was before. Killing was nothing new to any of them. They'd done plenty of it during the war and they'd done it a few times since this all began six months ago. The bloodiest had been when Quatre was ambushed in the woods while hunting. The six men intent on taking not only his kills, but also him. An enraged shout had alerted the rest of them and they'd followed the sounds of a struggle to find their friend pinned down and half naked. Trowa went into a blind rage and single-handedly slaughtered all but the rapist. Once Quatre redressed himself, he'd taken Trowa's blade, still dripping with blood, and decapitated the man. Then, he spat on the still-twitching body and walked away, his kills slung over his shoulder. Not even post-war Quatre would have so callously spit on the bodies of his enemies, but this was a different world. A different Quatre. They were all irreversibly changed. Harder, crueler. They had to be. It was the only way to stay alive. Duo sipped the water that he and Wufei had gathered from a nearby creek and watched Trowa and Quatre gut and skin the rabbits. They worked quickly and quietly as they speared the meat onto sharpened sticks to cook over the fire. They had been close during the war and were even closer now. Lovers. The kind of relationship that their previous world wouldn't give them. Now, it flourished in this new world without prejudice, or pressing obligations to family. Their group had been bigger in the beginning, over twenty survivors big, but one by one, they were taken down until only the four of them were left. Trowa's sister, Catherine, had been bitten a few months ago and succumbed to the fever the infection brought on. He had been the one to plunge his knife into her brain to prevent her from turning. It was a heartbreaking scene to watch him do it and then collapse into Quatre's arms, weeping in great gasping sobs. Quatre had lost contact with his family even before the war. As far as he knew, they'd been taken out in napalm while gathered in a Mosque on L4. Quatre had gone to the Maguanacs stronghold in Egypt only to discover half of them had turned, the other half were in various stages of being eaten by their comrades. He'd been swarmed and barely made it out alive, fleeing to the circus to be with Trowa and Cathy. When the circus was overrun, only the three of them survived. Duo was forced to take out Hilde fairly early on as they, and Howard were overwhelmed by a herd on L2. Hilde was bitten in the throat and bled out quickly. She'd lunged at Howard while Duo was grieving over her, sinking her infected teeth into the flesh of his arm. Duo stayed with him until he passed from the sickness, overcome with guilt that he had not taken care of her before she turned. He couldn't. It wasn't until she went after Howard, when it was too late, that he'd been able to plunge the knife into her head. He met up with Wufei at Preventers which was still relatively safe at the time. Safe, until another herd attacked Headquarters. Communications had been failing and they were less than reliable, but Duo was able to get a message out to Quatre and Trowa and the four of them met up in Virginia, tagged along by the rest of the survivors they'd picked up along the way. They were unable to contact or find Heero. Duo assumed he'd gone to be with Relena. He could only hope wherever they were, they were safe. Duo and Wufei developed a strong bond in the last several months since the apocalypse. Wufei didn't have anyone to tie him down even before it began and Duo had lost Hilde and Howard. Wufei was there for him when he wept and grieved over them. One thing had led to another, as they always do, and soon, they were lovers as well. Quatre pulled two sticks of meat out of the fire and handed them to Duo and Wufei. Duo's stomach rumbled and he bit into the flesh hungrily, not missing the irony that they weren't doing anything all that different than the Undead. The only thing the Undead didn't do was cook their meat beforehand. It was gamey, a bit dry, but such was the way of things in the new world. They were happy to get what they got. Wufei chewed his food thoughtfully and said, "What I wouldn't give for a little orange sauce to go with this." Duo nearly choked on a laugh, coughing around a lump of meat that lodged in this throat. Wufei shot him a wry grin and that got Quatre going. He doubled over in a fit of giggles which caused Trowa to start laughing. Soon, they were all cracking up and for a moment, it felt more like a camping trip with the guys. It was times like these that made the horrific reality of what they were dealing with worth it. Just a fleeting moment of normalcy gave the horrors of their lives purpose. The reason they fought to live another day. It was just the four of them against the world. Against a world that wanted them dead. Much like it had been before. It would have to be enough. Enough until one, or all of them succumbed to something, whether it was disease, starvation, the Undead, or any of the ragtag surviving humans. Duo couldn't help but realize the brutality of what they'd all done. Nature was brutal. There was no way around that. They did what they had to do until Death came for them. He only wished Heero could have been there with them, but maybe he was somewhere better. The time for humans was not over. Not as long as they still walked the Earth. Not if Duo had anything to say about it.
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