Eijirou struggled against Hanta and Tsuyu as they dragged him away, back into the ambulance bay. He thrashed, sounds muffled by Hanta's hand pressed hard enough into his mouth he struggled to breathe.

Once the door was shut, he was realeased and pushed away, Momo blocking the door.

"Fuck!" He spat, shaking and eyes wide. "What the fuck-"

Hanta shushed him, waving his hands. "Shut up, dumbass! Don't bring them back here!"

"So we're just going to fucking leave Katsuki!?"

Momo jumped forward, grabbing Eijirou's face. "Settle down, Eij, please... He lead them away from us. Look, Katsuki is smart. He'll be okay, I know it. Please, let's just use this opportunity he gave us and get back home... We have to get these supplies back for Denki..."

Eijirou clenched his jaw, tears in his eyes. "We need to help him... There's too many for just him..."

"We can't help him, though," Tsuyu stepped up, adjusting her bag. "We have to get back home or him separating from us will have been in vain..."

Things fell silent, Eijirou shaking and breathing heavily.

A shriek, just like the one that had separated them, made all of them tense more.

"Let's go home," Eijirou muttered softly, the other three murmuring their agreement.

Hanta stepped around Eijirou, lowering to the floor to check the alley on the other side of the garage doors before opening them.

They slowly filtered into the alley, glancing around despite knowing all the sick had been distracted. Hanta grit his teeth as he watched the herd stumble away, the Runners shouting and Screamer shrieking. He turned the other direction and started running.

Eijirou followed behind, Momo beside him and Tsuyu just behind.

An explosion jostled them, despite being so far behind them. They ducked behind two separate cars, Momo grabbing onto Eijirou and holding his arm tightly.

"What was that? What happened? Is there someone else in the city? Is Katsuki okay-"

"Shh!" Hanta hissed, waving to Momo. The girl quickly snapped her mouth shut, hiding her face in Eijirou's shoulder.

All four shook, Eijirou closing his eyes and clenching his jaw.

After several moments, Hanta counting and Tsuyu keeping an eye out to make sure there were no sick headed towarss them, the four finally returned to their feet and continued the trek back to the dormitory.

~

Entering the dormitory without Katsuki was more strange than anything. Eijirou made every run with the angry blond, so to not hear his gruff voice call to the rest of the group or listen to him curse about how shitty their run was, was strange and unsettling.

"Where's Katsuki?"

Of course, that's the first thing Hizashi says before bothering to greet the group. He had retained the habit from his years of teaching to count heads each time the younger of the group returned from the supply runs. Blessing and a curse, sometimes just annoying.

Hanta licked his lips, setting his bag on a nearby table. "We got separated..."

"How? You're never supposed to go off on your own. He knows that. He enforces that rule-"

"Yamada," Shouta sighed as he sauntered in the room. His gray eyes swept over the four, scowl deepening. "What happened..?"

Momo spoke up this time, eyes downcast. "We had gotten the supplies and were about to leave the hospital when we turned the corner and a Screamer was walking down the hallway. We stayed back while Katsuki went ahead to kill it."

Shouta breathed deeply. "Did it see him and attack?"

"Screamed," Tsuyu corrected, setting her things down. She acknowledged Shouto as he entered the room with a nod before continuing Momo's story. "She turned, saw him, and screamed. He killed her pretty quick, but... Others heard."

"There's a new special sick," Eijirou finally piped in, leaning against the wall. "It... It just broke through the wall in between us, letting an entire herd through. Katsuki distracted the herd. Got their attention and ran. He lead them south, away from us."

"Katsuki didn't come back?" Shouto's brows furrowed, holding the duffle bag and the knapsack that had been handed to him. "Do we know if he's still alive?"

Hanta shrugged, rubbing his hands together. "No idea... But... As we were headed back, there was a... A sort of explosion from the direction he ran towards..."

Shouta breathed deeply, running his hands down his face as he sat down. "Son of a bitch," he muttered, looking out the window.

Eijirou pushed himself off the wall and walked back to the door. "I'm going to go look for him-"

"No!" Hizashi blocked him, Hanta jumping forward to grab his arm and pull him back.

Eijirou sneered, yanking his arm away. "He's out there, guys! He'd do the same for any of you!"

"Eijirou, it's going to be dark, soon. We have to be smart about this," Hazashi tried to reason, hands up.

"I'm sure the explosion means that someone is out there and they helped him." Momo started to pull Eijirou away.

The taller fumed, looking more furious and frustrated than any of them had ever seen the typically mellow and cheery red-head. Though, his hair wasn't so red anymore, his raven roots grown out.

Shouto stepped forward. "Eijirou..? Will you help me with Denki? The pain medication can only do so much so I may need someone to hold him down while I suture his wound."

Slowly, Ejirou's shoulders drooped and he lowered his head. "Yeah," he finally answered, turning towards him. "Yeah, okay..." He shrugged off Hanta and followed Shouto out of the commons and up the stairs.

When Shouto opened the door, Mina perked up from her spot beside Denki and looked around Eijirou. The redhead frowned as she gave him a confused look.

"They're back with more medicine, Denki," Shouto announced to the slightly delirious blond, still laying in bed.

"Yay," he cheered with a limp wave of his hand. Eijirou smiled and sat beside Mina. Denki looked up to him and flashed as big of a grin he could muster. "Eiji... You guys left me."

"Sorry, bud. Had to get you some more medicine." The redhead stroked back Denki's sweat dampened hair and nearly winced at the heat radiating off his skin. He looked to Shouto.

The younger sighed. "I did what I could, but his fever spiked while you guys were out and I haven't been able to bring it down..."

Denki whined and turned his head away. "'m fine... Where's Kats..?" His voice slurred, eyes drooped half-closed. "He always comes to see me after a run..."

"Denks," Mina started, squeezing his hand.

Eijirou reached over, placing his hand over theirs. "He had to take a shit, so I hope you don't mind that I take his place."

The blond snorted and scrunched his nose in disgust. "Ew... Make him hurry..."

"I will, Denks," Eijirou murmured, looking back to the duel-haired colored man.

Shouto looked up from the supplies he'd lain out. "These are perfect... Mina, do you want to stay or step outside..?"

Mina bit her lip, keeping her eyes on Denki and hands wrapped firmly around one of his. "I want to stay here for him... If that's okay. I don't want to be in the way or anything."

Shouto shook his head. "I'll be on this side the entire time, but Eijirou will need to hold him down if he starts to struggle too much."

The girl flinched, but nodded slowly. "Okay..."

Eijirou and Shouto nodded to each other, Shouto pulling on a pair of gloves. Denki yawned, eye lids fluttering, and blissfully unaware of how painful the next several minutes were going to be.

~

Eijirou decided he didn't particularly like going outside the dormitory without Katsuki. However, three days and still no sign of the blond has a cold pit growing deep in his gut. He needs to search, even if it's to find him dead, or worse...

Albeit begrudgingly, Tenya accompanied Eijirou beyond the campus and into the city, starting early in the morning before anyone else woke.

Tenya held his bat, letting it swing limply by his side, Eijirou content with his double pistols and pocket knife.

"It's quiet out," the taller remarked with a quirk of his brow, glancing around to the remains of the city around them. Broken buildings, abandoned cars, bodies strewn across the street and pavement. It looked, felt, and smelt just like a warzone.

Definitely not how Eijirou had pictured his life at this point.

The redhead just nodded in response, leading them through the street. They kept low, ready to drop and hide if needed, or run if needed.

They ignored the Biters, clearing to the other side of the street or ducking behind a car to avoid getting too close.

Abruptly, not long after they passed the hospital, Tenya reached forward and pulled Eijirou to a stop.

The redhead looked back to him, confused, then followed Tenya to an alley.

The gate was close, no dead inside, but outside... Burnt bodies - most missing limbs - spread on the pavement and asphalt, the nearby cars and a nearby lamppost also having been affected by some sort of explosion.

Eijirou's eyes widened and he rushed towards the gate. He unlatched it, pushing it open, snapping his head to look up as something caught his eye. A thin rope, maybe bungee cord, had been tied to the top corner of the gate, fed through the fence and trailed up to the roof of the building.

He looked back to Tenya and the taller nodded, both thinking the same thing. Eijirou climbed the latter first, offering his hand to Tenya once up.

Nothing strange on the roof.

Wait.

Eijirou crouched and picked up a pin. He smirked and held it up for Tenya to see. "Some lucky bastard got their hands on a grenade."

Tenya smiled and shook his head, then headed towards the door. Eijirou stood and followed, tossing the pin to the side.

Inside was a mess. Bodies and luggage pushed to the sides, a few limbs reaching into the middle they had to step over.

The taller looked around, glancing into open doors and not daring to touch the unopened ones.

Until he halted, blue eyes locked on one cracked open door.

Eijirou furrowed his brows, reaching for his pocket knife as Tenya stepped towards the door.

It creaked just slightly as it was opened amd Tenya glanced around before gesturing to Eijirou and stepping inside. Eijirou followed, looking behind him before closing the door. "What is it?"

"There was a marking on the door. Green chalk," Tenya muttered, looking around.

Just a pull out and a bed, pullout unmade after having been slept in, but bed made perfectly and neatly, comforter tucked under the mattress and all. Eijirou thought that was strange, but didn't think it meant much.

Tenya walked to the window and raised the curtain to look outside. "Great view... Close enough to the ground for emergency exit, not close enough you get a break in... Can see all of Main Street. Not very dusty in here either, at least in the places used. Pull out is pretty clean, but the cushions beside it are filthy. Someone stayed in here not too long ago and used the pullout."

"Like... Last night?" Oh, God. That sounded a little too hopeful.

"Possibly... But my guess would be closer to at least a day or two..." Tenya let the curtain fall back into place.

Eijirou swallowed, holstering his pistols. "Think it could have been Katsuki?"

Tenya shrugged. "Again, possibly, but he wasn't alone. He didn't have a grenade or green chalk unless he picked it up mid-run. He also definitely didn't have the time to tie the cord like that out there to shut the gate."

"Obviously."

"Don't get short with me," Tenya was quick to reprimand Eijirou with a side-eye. "They must have helped him, brought him inside and stayed in this room for a while. Maybe over night, then left."

"Okay, so if they left here the next morning, Katsuki should be back home. Unless my math is wrong."

"No, you're right. So, unless they parted ways and Katsuki tried coming back but got trapped or... Infected... Katsuki must be with whoever helped him- which doesn't make much sense. I don't know why he'd do that."

Eijirou bit his lip, looking around the room. "So... He's dead, is what you're saying..."

Tenya sighed, folding his arms. "No, I'm not saying that at all. It doesn't make sense to us that he'd leave with a stranger, but maybe something happened that made him go with them. The herd could have still been outside and he was forced to continue the other direction, he was injured and has to stay with this person- in which, I don't understand why he didn't try to get this person or persons to help him back to the dorms..." He rubbed his jaw, brows furrowed as he thought.

"Let's go back outside and see if we can find anything else..."

"Right," Tenya agreed, stepping around Eijirou and opening the door. "We'll go further up Main Street just in case. He may have left us a clue or something."

~

Eijirou followed behind Tenya this time, keeping close.

"Runner!" Tenya hissed and dove behind the next car, Eijirou ducking behind a roadblock.

The Runner growled and crawled across the asphalt, snapping its jaws angrily. It stood and sniffed, grunting as a Biter they passed earlier bumped into a car.

Eijirou swallowed, leaning back. He kept his breathing even, despite his heart hammering inside his chest.

Finally, the Runner shouted and dashed in the direction they came from.

Both released a sigh of relief, Eijirou glancing around to make sure they're in the clear. He paused, tilting his head as he spotted a piece of cardboard leaned against the side of a car. He pushed himself to his feet, waving to Tenya to get his attention as he made his way over.

Tenya followed, although confused.
Eijirou picked up the cardboard and dusted it off - clearly it had been knocked over - then turned it over. He cracked a smile and chuckled, tilting the cardboard to show Tenya.

The bluenette sighed and shook his head, but smiled.

- Still kicking, dumbasses. Heading south to find a real home. I'll see your stupid faces soon. Don't kill each other and don't doubt me.

-----

2409 words

Just so y'all aren't confused next chapter, I time skipped three days in this chapter, but I won't do a three day time skip for Katsuki and Izuku.

It'll pick up pretty much where I left off with the two boys

Y'all, this whole chapter I pretty much wrote a sentence at a time. It took so long and I was back and forth between this, a game, back to this, to instagram, to this, to Snapchat, to this, to tictok- and so on and so on. I just couldn't keep focused on this or anything else. It's been like this for most of these chapters and for even my one shots. I also had a hard time finding motivation to do anything because work has been busting my ass and the lady at the stable where I keep my horse is batsh*t insane and pisses me off.

Writing is the only thing keeping my sanity intact but my lack of motivation is really getting to me.