Raiding The Kitchen

Lars dragged Lovino out onto the streets. The nation declared that he could walk by himself though, so Lars let go of him, deciding to ignore the insult in favour of their current mission.

He looked around where to go first. He had three priorities at the moment:
1. Find more nations and figure out what was going on.
2. Gather supplies.
3. Explore the town.

There was nobody in sight. So Lars decided to go for some houses on the other side of the street. Maybe there were people in there. And if not, they could always just raid their kitchen. He wished he wouldn’t be thinking about things like this right now. But a big guy like him needed food to function.

When they entered the house, there was no sign of life. “Anybody here?” Lars called out, hoping for an answer. When nothing came, Lars started to walk through the house. Soon he stumbled upon the kitchen. Perfect. “Look for supplies and weapons.” He told Romano while opening the fridge. There was not much in there. His eyes fell on a couple of beers. He took one out for inspection. Seeing the same label on them as the disgusting beer he had earlier, he made a face and put it back. It was better not to take the risk.

What was left in the fridge were mainly things that needed to be prepared in some way. Not something they had time for right now. Though Lars managed to find some cheese. He took it out and placed on the counter, rummaging through some drawers before finding the knives. “You hungry?” He asked as he chopped off a large chunk and held it out for Romano to take.

Lars let the Italian take the cheese and cut off another large chunk for himself. “That’s good.” Lars told him when Lovino said he found pain medicine. He looked through some cupboards, looking for some kitchen foil. When he found it he wrapped it around the rest of the cheese. “We’re saving this for later. And I’m also taking this.” He twisted the large knife he had used to cut the cheese between his fingers.

Putting the cheese in a plastic bag, along with some other foods that were easy to take with them and didn’t need any preparation, he turned towards Lovino again. “Let’s search the other rooms. I’ll go upstairs, you explore here.” He was about to turn around to head upstairs when he remembered something. “If you happen to find some bullets, bring them back for me.” The gun he had found earlier in that bar was now located in the back of his pants, hidden by his shirt. It was still unloaded, but if he needed it to bluff his way out of a situation, he wouldn’t hesitate to do so.

He headed upstairs, opening a door to see what was behind it. It was a bedroom. The blankets on the bed were clean and untouched, as if nobody had ever slept in it before. It was a bit creepy how everything was prepared for people to live in there, but everything seemed so dead. There was a nightstand beside the bed, but it didn’t contain anything interesting. Just some reading glasses, an alarm clock and a bible.

Not being able to find something interesting, he headed for the next room. It was a bathroom with walls so white that it made Lars think of a hospital. He looked around, examining the room, pulling the shower curtain away and looking in the bathtub, but he couldn’t find a thing that would be useful to them. Only when he opened the lid of the toilet seat he was surprised with something he didn’t expect. Large, hairy spiders were crawling around inside. Now it wasn’t that Lars was particularly squeamish when it came to insects. But the unexpectedness of this all caused him to let out a rather loud sound of surprise as he let the lid fall back closed.

Lars took a moment to calm himself down. At least now he knew not everything in this town was dead. He told himself it wasn’t unusual to find insects in a bathroom that wasn’t being taken care of. You saw them in old hotels all the time, so it wasn’t that weird. Even though the rest of this bathroom was… spotless.

He wasn’t surprised when he heard Lovino call out to him and stumble up the stairs. The Italian brothers were pretty much know for the fact that they weren’t particularly brave. “I’m alright.” Lars said as he stepped out of the bathroom, into the hallway again. “Let’s just say that there’s at least something alive in this town.”

When he laid eyes on Romano, an eyebrow was raised in amusement. He was clutching onto a frying pan. Now Lars had only seen someone fighting with a frying pan in two cases. One, cartoons. Two, Hungary. So either Lovino had been watching to much TV lately, or he was being inspired by the frying pan wielding woman. Either way, if it worked for the Italian at the moment, he wasn’t going to comment on it.

Though maybe it hadn’t been such a great idea to split up while searching the house. If something happened to one of them without the other noticing, the one left behind would be alone. In a place like this, that wasn’t a very good scenario. “But let’s stick together in case something happens.”

Lars shrugged at Lovino’s defence about the frying pan and his attempts to hide it from him. “I’ve searched that bedroom over there and this bathroom. There wasn’t anything of use in there. Everything looks like somebody was supposed to be living here, but they never arrived here. It’s all way to clean.” Lars said. “Did you find something downstairs?”

Save from the rooms Lars had already searched, there was just one more door in the hallway. Lars made his way over, opened the door and looked inside. Strangely, the room had no windows, so it was completely dark except from the light flowing in from the open door. His hand searched the wall for a light switch, flipping it when he found it. Nothing happened. After flipping it again a couple of times, Lars gave up and felt in his pocket, relieved to find his lightener there. He had been so caught up in finding out what was going on that he hadn’t even smoked a cigarette yet after he woke up. Though now was not the time. He would have time for that later.

The small flame of the lightener didn’t do much to illuminate the room. Only the things Lars held the flame close to were visible. The darkness seemed a bit thicker than usual. It was strange, and it made him a bit uncomfortable. On top of that he had the feeling someone was watching them. But when he looked around, nobody was there. He was getting a bit paranoid due to this ghost town, damn it.

He walked around the room, shining the little light on various objects. It turned out to be a bedroom for a little kid. There was a little bed in the corner of the room, littered with stuffed animals. And yet again, every sign of life seemed to be missing.

The Italian voiced what Lars had been wondering for a while now. “I don’t know… But I’ll find out.” Lars answered Lovino, even more determined to find out what was going on. This wasn’t a normal abandoned town, that much was for sure. The place looked normal enough though. But that was exactly what had him nervous. And the other clinging to his back right now didn’t really help in making him relax.

Lars quickly looked around as Romano heard something. In the poorly-lit room, he missed the unknown creature that was watching them. He was sure there was nothing here. Romano was known for being a bit of a coward. He was probably getting paranoid and imagining things. No need in getting nervous for nothing. He took a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down before he answered. “It was probably just the house creaking. There’s nobody else here.” If there had been someone else, they would’ve heard footsteps. Or they would’ve made themselves known. If they were other nations at least. If there was someone else in this house, then that meant they weren’t the only ones stuck here in the town.

Of course he was right. There were no such things as monsters or ghosts. It was all in their head. The abandoned town was just getting to them a bit. “Yes, I don’t think there’s much more-” Lars didn’t get the chance to finish his sentence, since something startled him. Something that looked like a enormous spider had just jumped out of the darkness and onto Lovino. Lars stumbled backwards from the shock, and he felt the other’s hands let go of his shirt. It took a few moments for the Dutchman to comprehend what was happening, but once he got his senses back, he immediately rushed to the Italian’s side. The unknown creature wasn’t keen on letting him get close though. A dangerous hiss could be heard as Lars approached.

The Dutchman’s determination faltered a bit as he caught a glimpse of the monster’s numerous sharp teeth. Though he didn’t let it scare him off for long. It looked like Lovino was going to be eaten any moment now. And though he didn’t hold particularly warm feelings towards the Italian, but he couldn’t let him get eaten here like this either. Besides, if he got Lovino killed now, Spain would probably try to kill Lars in return.

Without wasting much more thought on the subject, he took a hold of the still unloaded gun that he had stuck in the back of his pants earlier. Lars practically jumped onto the creature that was holding the Italian captive. With the gun he hit every spot of the monster he could reach, making sure his blows were as hard as he could manage. It was very much possible that he hit Romano a couple of times in the process. Though Netherlands didn’t stop to think about that right now. The most important thing was getting whatever it was off of Lovino, so he would not get devoured.

Lars continued to smash the gun at the creature as hard as he could, though it seemed to be quite persistent. Apparently the Italian was a meal that he did not want to let go of. The snarls he was getting out of the thing told him that he was at least managing to do some damage though. And soon he found that the grip of the monstrous spider on Lovino was weakening. Instead the thing decided to pounce on the Dutchman himself! Lars hadn’t expected this, and the impact of the creature hitting his body caused him to be knocked over.

As he landed on the floor, he felt sharp teeth puncturing the skin of his arm. He let out a small yelp and released the grip he had on his gun from the pain and surprise. Now he had nothing to defend himself with but his fists and feet. But apparently (and luckily) he didn’t suit the creature’s tastes. He threw a final kick in the monster’s direction as it fled, hoping it hurt a fucking lot.

He groaned as he gripped at his bleeding arm. He stayed down for a moment to catch his breath. Once he had managed that, he got up and walked towards the Italian. Lars held out his left arm to help him up, since that one wasn’t a bleeding mess.

As he hoisted him to his feet, he saw that the other also had some cuts, though most likely not as deep as the ones on Lars’ arm. Still, they needed to be taken care of, just like his own. The Dutchman didn’t feel like getting ill from some foreign infection any time soon. “We better go find some alcohol to disinfect these.” Lars proposed, gesturing at their wounds. “Whatever that was, it probably had rabies.”

Lars helped the Italian up, only letting go of him when he was mostly sure Lovino wouldn’t fall down again. When he was asked if he had see anything in the kitchen, the Dutchman shook his head. “Not in the kitchen, but I think I saw a liquor cabinet in the living room.”

He understood Romano’s worry for the situation, but it annoyed him. He was not really helping at the moment. “Maybe.” Lars answered, not being one to intentionally give others false hope as well as just not wanting to make the effort to reassure the other. He didn’t know just what diseases that thing carried, and how much alcohol would be able to do against it. “If we can find something strong, like vodka, that’s our best chance.

Lars walked out of the room, expecting the Italian to follow. He went downstairs and into the living area. He went over to what he expected to be a liquor cabinet. After opening it, his suspicions were confirmed. A lot of bottles in different shapes, sizes and colours were lined up. The Dutchman looked through them until he found a large bottle with a clear liquid inside.

He took the cap off and smelled, identifying the strong scent quite easily. Yes, that was unmistakably vodka. He motioned Lovino to come closer. “Let me see your wounds. Where did it get you?”

Lars bend down to look over Lovino’s injuries. It was worse than Lars’ own, but nothing he wouldn’t be able to treat with the right equipment. Right now they didn’t have the proper equipment though. he would have to improvise.

After that quick look at Lovino’s wounds, Lars put the vodka bottle down for a moment and looked around for anything he could use, a rag or something of the sort. Something he could rip up and use as bandages. Everything around was covered in dust though. If anything, that was only going to increase the chance of an infection.

For lack of something better, Lars took a hold of the sleeve of Lovino’s uniform. “Don’t whine.” He warned him in advance. A firm tug by the seams of the clothing, and the sound of fabric ripping filled the air. Lars had ripped the Italian’s sleeve off the jacket of his uniform. It wasn’t ideal, but it was necessary. He didn’t have anything else to use, and the wound had to be treated.

The Dutchman proceeded to rip the fabric into smaller straps to create some makeshift bandages. A piece of the fabric he drenched in vodka. He dabbed the wound on Lovino’s arm with the damp cloth in an attempt to disinfect it. “This will sting a little.” He added as an afterthought. Lars held a strong grip on his hand, in case he would struggle or try to pull his arm back.