Ayaka went on to explain what the underground was all about. "It's not actually an automatic trapdoor, but a 'spring'ed one. If you press a button, the lock would unlatch and it would compress the spring. This is where we do our experiments. Some might call it the stronghold hybrid's second home."
With a gulp, Tris looked down on what seemed like an abyss that would swallow all of them right up if they were to peer too far. It was a huge staircase, leading down to a closed metallic door that Kazuichi assumed to be a couple of inches thick.
Waving her hand, Ayaka proceeded to take the first step to descend the stairs. She beckoned for the two of them to come, reminding Kazuichi to be careful of Yamishiro. Kazuichi tugged at Yamishiro's shirt, slinging him on his back as he carried him down the stairs. As usual, Yamishiro continued flailing and grunting in a crazed manner, but Kazuichi didn't mind at all. His mouth was stuffed with a towel, after all.
And there was no way he was capable of removing it with his hands tied like that.
Tris attempted to steer clear of Kazuichi who was handling Yamishiro like a sack of rice. She was the last one to descend the stairs.
Once Ayaka reached the last step of the ladder, she grabbed the handle of the metal door and slide it open. She didn't even break a sweat, and not once did she grunt while she forced the metallic door open.
From a normal person's perspective, it may seem like the metallic door was light. Even Tris assumed that she'd be able to open the door since Ayaka didn't have any difficulty opening it. However, Tris's eyes were playing tricks on her. The door was actually relatively heavy, Ayaka just made it look like it was lighter.
"Come in," Ayaka gestured with a smile as she stepped inside the room. She reached out to the side of the wall and turned on the switch.
Light flooded the room, revealing a work table in the middle of the room. A line of bunk beds could be seen on the far end of the room, next to a restroom with its door half-open. Unfamiliar equipment and books littered the space, and Kazuichi had a hard time avoiding them as he made his way to the work table.
"So this isn't your first time treating an infected, huh," Ayaka assumed since she didn't have to tell Kazuichi what to do. He automatically proceeded to the worktable with the plan of setting Yamishiro on there.
"What do you mean?" Kazuichi asked, putting the flailing Yamishiro on the worktable before tying him up with the rope from his bag. He tied it a little bit too tight, and it dug into Yamishiro's skin, rendering him immobile.
"You know exactly what to do. This isn't your first time, right?" Ayaka asked, heading to one of the drawers and grabbing a couple of things there. She stocked on bandages, syringes, blood bags, and who knows what else.
"No, this is my first time. I've just seen one too many movies." Kazuichi muttered to himself. "Are you going to take his blood sample? Or are we going to infect him with Hybrid blood first?"
"We need to take his blood sample first. It wouldn't end well if we infected him with Hybrid blood without knowing his compatibility." Ayaka replied, grabbing a syringe and taking a small sample of blood from Yamishiro.
Kazuichi and Tris watched the expert at work. As soon as Ayaka put the blood sample against the light, she eyed it for a couple of seconds before setting it aside. "Kazuichi, what type of Hybrid are you? Are you perhaps a Merc? We need Merc blood on him."
"I um, I'm actually not sure what type of Hybrid I am... but I'm pretty sure I'm close to a Hound," Kazuichi responded, narrating the story of how he was bitten by a hound back then.
"I see... but your build, though, it's different from a Hound if you ask me. If you say so, then it's probably true." Ayaka commented as she exited the place. "I'm going to get a Merc, you guys look after Yamishiro."
Before Kazuichi or Tris could agree to her request, she had already scaled the stairs.
Meanwhile, Kazuichi just had a crazy idea. He was bitten by a Hound in the past, but recently, another zombie bit him and it didn't affect him at all. Even though his body had a hard time adjusting to the virus, it was able to assimilate with it.
"Was I just lucky... or is it something else?" Kazuichi asked himself, eyeing the vial that contained Yamishiro's blood.
If what Ayaka said was true, then Yamishiro needed a bit more of the virus from a Merc Hybrid. That meant Yamishiro actually had a bit of Merc Hybrid in him.
Before Tris could say anything, Kazuichi picked up the vial containing Yamishiro's blood. He then attached a needle to the vial before putting it on him.
"Kazuichi?! What are you doing?" Tris asked, grabbing the syringe from Kazuichi but it was already too late, Yamishiro's blood was already in his system.
Spotting a handcuff from afar, Kazuichi attached one to his leg and another to one of the bunk beds. He figured that doing so would limit his movement if he were to go berserk. "Will I die from this?" Kazuichi asked. It was probably already too late to contemplate the situation since he was done doing something crazy.
...
When Ayaka arrived with one of the guards, she was aghast at the sight of the room. On one end, Kazuichi was handcuffed to one of the bunk beds. He and Yamishiro were flailing around as the virus got the better of them. As for Tris, she was standing by the corner, too shocked to even greet Ayaka when she entered.
"What's going on, what happened?" Ayaka asked in her high-pitched tone, grabbing Tris by the shoulders.
"K-Kazuichi... he-he injected Yamishiro's blood on himself," Tris answered, on the verge of tears.