"What do you mean we may have lost Monk?" Mai reached for Oliver's arm, her voice was barely a whisper.

"I looked back and he wasn't there. I don't think he made it out of the shopping center."

Mai's eyes brimmed with tears, causing Oliver to frown. After a moment of contemplation, he pulled her into a stiff hug and stood stock still as she wept into the sleeve of his t-shirt.

Ayako turned her attention back to Madoka, who was now examining Yasuhara's foot.

"What the hell happened?"

"He shot himself in the foot."

Madoka crouched to get a closer look.

"It could have been a lot worse, I guess," She squinted at the bloodied foot. "Could he walk?"

"Not really," Ayako rubbed her temples. "But I don't think he hit anything major, it should heal as long as we get rid of the dead skin."

"You think you'll be able to cut and clean all of it?"

Ayako shook her head.

"Remember that medical history seminar we took with Dr. McElroy? The one on wound healing before modern medicine?"

"Vaguely."

"Well, she mentioned that people used to use maggots to clean wounds under dressing so that they would clean and heal themselves. It's only practised occasionally now but…"

"That sounds awful."

"I can't imagine we'll be able to give the wound proper attention otherwise. And I already found the maggots."

"Great."

Ayako pressed the spray bottle full of a dubious mixture of cleaning solutions into Madoka's hands.

"Try to clean as much as you can with this, I wouldn't use any of the drinking water if you can help it."

Madoka nodded, taking the bottle. Ayako also tossed her a pair of gloves and a checkered tablecloth.

Ayako managed a wry smile. "I'm gonna go harvest some maggots."

An uneasy feeling filled Ayako's stomach as she pushed through the door to the kitchen. She'd studied corpses in med school, and seen pictures and heard about things like maggot therapy, she'd even watched a surgery similar to the one she was about to perform.

Nothing could prepare one for the discomfort she felt taking this chance to save Yasuhara's foot.

If the situation were not so dire, she might feel easier, but if Yasuhara were immobilized in this environment, he may as well be dead.

If he could no longer run, death would catch him one way or another.

Ayako perished the thought.

This should be easy, she attempted to console herself. This should be a simple wound to treat. She would not even have to remove the bullet.

Screwing up her nerve, Ayako tied a large washcloth over her mouth and nose, tucking her hair in out of her face.

She pulled the walk-in cooler door open and the stench immediately caused her to gag, even with the washcloth blocking some of the smell.

Lastly she slipped on a pair of thin rubber gloves that she had tucked in her back pocket from the kitchen.

They wouldn't prevent her from feeling the squish of the maggots as she picked them up, but at least they'd keep her from coming in direct skin contact with the slimy - but hopefully helpful - creatures.

Ayako tried to ignore the smell as she pried open a container of fruity greek yogurt and came face to face with her new medical assistants.

"Jesus Christ," she coughed. The smell was fucking brutal.

She gingerly scooped a handful of of the bugs, writhing in the fruity gunk, and shook them off of her hand into a mesh sifter from the kitchen. Once she was satisfied with the white mess stirring before her, Ayako resealed the yogurt and left the dreaded cooler.

With one bottle of clean water, she carefully rinsed the maggots so that they would be a little cleaner. Now, she was ready for surgery.

"Dokes," Ayako pushed through into the main lobby of the shop, carrying a mesh sifter full of writhing maggots and a whole box of disposable gloves. "Is the wound clean?"

Madoka nodded, wiping her brow on the back of her sleeve.

"Just a little blood, skin's mostly dead."

"I have just the fix for that," Ayako shook the container of maggots. "These little guys should eat all of the dead skin and promote healing. We just need to put them on the wound and wrap it up."

"Do you really think that will work?"

"I sure hope so," Ayako managed a wry smile. "It seemed to work well enough in the olden days."

"Yeah, along with bloodletting and lobotomy," Madoka muttered under her breath.

"Any better ideas?"

Madoka shook her head.

"Let's just deal with the maggots as quickly as possible." She put on a clean pair of gloves and prepared to wrap the wound as soon as Ayako had carefully placed the maggots.

Soon, the deed was done. The wound looked like it was simply cleaned and dressed, no sign of flesh eating larvae.

Ayako and Madoka wordlessly cleaned the area around Yasuhara before covering him with another cotton tablecloth and joining the others where they were sitting in a semi-circle by the door.

"How is he?" Oliver asked before anyone else had the chance.

"Fine," Ayako shrugged. "He'll probably need painkillers when he wakes up, but he should recover."

"We have limited medical supplies," Madoka frowned, glancing at the supplies from Sotelo's compound gathered in the corner. "He may have to deal."

"We'll see how much he can tolerate, over-the-counter stuff shouldn't be too hard to come by. We can definitely spare some."

"We need to come up with a plan," Oliver interrupted Ayako's train of thought. "We can't just hide here forever."

"Well, we have to at least wait until Yasuhara's foot is healed enough that he can walk," Ayako put her hands on her hips, her hands instictively reached for the pockets of her short, white med student jacket, which she was now without. "Unless you have any other ideas."

"And we have to wait in case Monk turns up!" Mai pointed out.

Oliver cringed, making Ayako wonder how likely he was to come back alive.

"We didn't see what happened to him," John must have read Oliver's expression as well. "So I don't think Mai's entirely foolish to think he could still be alive."

Defeated, Oliver resigned himself to waiting. Ayako could see his point, it was safer to be on the move.

"Alright, we'll see how long we can stick it out, then."

X~X~X

Days passed by Beebop's Donut Shop just as slowly as they had passed at Madoka's house. Ayako and Madoka took turns checking up on Yasuhara's foot and making sure it was healing properly. Mai, Masako, and John helped organize and catalogue all of their supplies, and Oliver and Vianney chatted quietly at a dining table, drawing lines and arrows on wrinkled paper maps.

All seven of them slept in shifts and took turns keeping watch during the day.

Before the end of the world, Ayako always looked forward to her residency years as a doctor. She always said that could not wait to be initiated into the medical world with weeks of no sleep and constant stress. Just a few years, and the hard work would all be worth it.

Waiting for danger in an abandoned donut shop was a little like what she imagined residency would feel like. She got to play doctor, she looked at Masako's injured arm and organized medicine and cleaned Yasuhara's wound. She slept very little and drowned in constant stress.

Unlike a residency in a hospital, however, all of her hard work now went nowhere. It was after the end of the world. Nothing mattered.

hi okay this chapter is super short but i wanted to update bc i've been super unmotivated lately okay thanks bye

rate/review to maybe get an actual update in the future!

bee