Komachi was exhausted. With every passing mile, her feet felt heavier as she and the rest of the group marched further north. Looking beside her, she saw Taishi's tired expression as he walked alongside her, carrying Keika on his back.
In front of them, Saki pressed on behind the soldiers without complaint, a pistol in her hands. One of the soldiers, Yuichi, had taken the time to show her how to handle the weapon in case of an emergency. Saki quickly picked up the skill with determination.
Komachi had wanted to ask for her own weapon, but was hesitant to ask the soldiers for anything. She refused to interact with them beyond what was strictly necessary, especially their leader, Hiroyuki.
She absolutely hated him for what he had done.
Komachi understood the logic behind Hiroyuki's actions. She knew that once someone was bitten by the infected, it was only a matter of time before they would turn as well. Even knowing this, she would never forgive Hiroyuki for killing Hachiman.
Thinking about her older brother weakened Komachi's resolve to continue.
Ever since she could remember, Hachiman had always been there for her. He spent time with her when their parents were busy working long hours. When she was six, Komachi often felt unloved because her parents were rarely home. However, after Hachiman explained to her that their parents worked so hard for their sake—to provide a comfortable and easy life—she began to understand and stopped feeling so neglected.
Despite that conversation, Komachi still experienced loneliness. Coming home to an empty house after school often brought her to tears. One day, Hachiman found her crying in the living room and immediately comforted her. From that day on, he made sure to come home first, so she wouldn't have to arrive at an empty house.
Though she never told him, Komachi treasured that he did this for her.
As a result, Komachi grew incredibly attached to her brother. He was her entire world as she grew up. When she entered junior high, she decided it was time to mature a little and let her dear brother live his own life at school. Unfortunately, her brother developed some antisocial tendencies. He seemed to have no friends and preferred to be alone.
Komachi playfully teased her brother about his behavior and encouraged him to be more outgoing, but he was resistant to change. However, her feelings for Hachiman never wavered. He was still her dear brother, regardless of whether he was an antisocial weirdo who rambled on about youth or not. She understood that it was up to her to make him smile and to spoil him.
Her actions had earned her a surplus in Komachi points.
The memory of the loud crack of a gunshot echoed loudly in Komachi's mind. Snapping her out of her memories and erasing the small smile on her face.
Blinking, Komachi looked up as the group came to a stop for a small break. It seemed she had lost herself in her thoughts to the point that she completely missed the last mile they had traveled.
"Komachi-chan, here," Taishi said with a smile, offering her a bottle of water.
"…thank you," Komachi replied, taking a sip and suddenly realizing how thirsty she was. In a few gulps, she finished the bottle of water. "Ah, sorry."
"It's okay. I already had enough to drink," Taishi assured her. "The soldiers said we should reach the river soon. We'll be one step closer to safety."
"Yeah, that's great," Komachi said, trying to sound like her usual self, but her tone came out slow and uninterested. It reminded her of how Hachiman used to speak.
Noticing her reaction, Taishi smiled awkwardly and looked away. His face twisted as he tried to find the words to comfort her, but nothing came out. He sighed in disappointment.
"I, uh, Komachi-Chan, I-"
"Everyone, quiet!" Hiroyuki hissed as he held out his hand, and the group immediately fell silent, listening intently. Faintly, several distant gunshots echoed in the air.
"Senpai, those sound like small-caliber rounds," Naoki said, turning to Hiroyuki, who nodded in agreement.
"Yeah, that's exactly what I thought... There are more survivors," Hiroyuki said, addressing everyone. "Change of plans. We're heading in the direction of that gunfire. There could be people in need of our help."
"I don't mean to step on your toes, Hiro-kun," Yasushi interjected. "But can we really afford this detour? The river is two clicks away. Diverting now could put our current charges in danger. We have no idea what the situation is over there."
"Yasushi has a point," Takayuki added, pulling out his magazine to examine it. It was halfway full. "With our ammo running low, if there's a fight over there, we could run out before we even reach the river, not to mention the trip to Lake Kasumigaura."
"I understand that, but I can't turn my back on people who might need my help," Hiroyuki said, his expression resolute. "I won't force anyone to join me, but I'm going to check it out. Those people may need our help."
"Even after all these years, that's still your most annoying quality. It's why you've been stuck as a first-class private instead of being a Sergeant for so long," Yuichi grinned as he checked his rifle. "Still, I can't say I dislike it. I'm with you, Hiro."
"Yeah, me too." Mikio nodded, as did Yasushi and Naoki.
Takayuki sighed and stepped forward. "That leaves me to babysit. Go ahead. I'll set up shop on the top floor of the building behind us. Once you find whoever is reckless enough to fire unsilenced rounds in this hellscape, bring them back here."
"Sounds like a plan," Yuichi replied with a smile as he looked over at Saki, Komachi, Taishi, and Keika. "Alright, kids. Listen to Takayuki-san, and we'll be back before you know it."
"Okay," Saki nodded and turned to Takayuki. "We'll do as we're told."
Takayuki nodded, but before he could enter the building—which used to be a bakery—Hiroyuki walked up to him and handed him a small piece of paper.
"If something happens to us, take the kids to the outpost. Give this to my contact, Aya Suzuki. She'll take care of you," Hiroyuki said in a serious tone.
"Understood," Takayuki replied, pocketing the paper. "But don't make me use it. Make sure you bring everyone back, alright, Hiroyuki-san?"
Hiroyuki chuckled lightly and nodded. "You got it, Taka." He then turned to the rest of his squad. "Okay, everyone. Let's move out!"
Komachi stood beside Taishi as they watched the five men jog away in the direction of the gunshots. Behind them, Takayuki pried the bakery door open while Saki kept a lookout.
As Hiroyuki and the others disappeared around a corner, Komachi couldn't help but wish that they would never return.
x x x
Iroha's breath came out in shaky, uncontrolled bursts.
After two long days, she and the rest of her group had finally acquired food and beverages, thanks to the hard work of Shizuka, Hayato, and the others. Unfortunately, during the mission, they had lost Yamato, filling several of them with despair and sadness. It took another full day for Haruno and Shizuka to encourage those who had almost given up to keep going.
Once everyone had eaten and recovered their energy, they moved on to the next step of the plan created by Haruno, Shizuka, Yukino, and Hayato: escaping the building where they had been holed up for the last couple of days to begin the journey north to the river. And from there, reaching the Yukinoshita family home.
Using the same method they employed to distract the undead surrounding their building from before, everyone quickly filed out and ran through alleys and tucked-away passages, avoiding the more populated areas.
From there, they walked and ran nonstop for several hours as they headed further north toward the river. While no one knew how they would cross it, getting closer to their destination was a better option than remaining trapped in a building surrounded by the undead.
After several miles, they were making good time and managed to avoid the bulk of the infected. Still, there had been a few close calls, but thanks to Meguri's archery skills, they were able to take down any undead that spotted them before they could alert others.
Seeing the river not far away, Iroha couldn't help but feel excited to finally be moving away from the market district where they had been trapped for so long.
Unfortunately for her and the others, it was when they were only two miles away from the river that they came upon a horrific sight.
Dozens of mangled and ripped apart bodies were strewn all over the street. Their leftover flesh had deep slash wounds as if made by a long, sharp dagger. It was hard to distinguish whether the bodies had been part of the undead or a large number of healthy people due to the sheer amount of damage their corpses had sustained. It was as if they had been thrown into a blender and thrown out halfway through.
With loud, heavy stomps, Iroha and the others finally saw what had caused such carnage.
It was a large, gruesome creature, even more monstrous than the Lickers.
"W-what is that?" Oka muttered as everyone stared at the monster with wide, horrified eyes.
Lumbering across the cracked pavement, a grotesquely mutated shark moved like a nightmarish apparition. Its massive body, once sleek and streamlined for the ocean's depths, was now a grotesque mass of scarred flesh and gaping wounds, the remnants of its aquatic origins barely recognizable. Short but muscular legs, coated in a slick layer of briny slime, allowed it to navigate the urban wasteland. Each step echoed ominously as its claws dug into the asphalt.
The creature's large, emotionless eyes were clouded and unfocused, yet a predatory awareness lurked just beneath the surface. Its sharp, jagged teeth jutted out from its mouth, stained with the remnants of past prey, and a foul, fishy odor wafted through the air. As it moved, the gills along its neck flared open and closed, rasping and wheezing like a dying engine, and the ground trembled slightly beneath its weight.
Suddenly, its pointed nose twitched, flaring as it caught a whiff of something—a tantalizing scent that stirred an instinctual hunger deep within. The creature's jaw hung open, revealing a dark abyss filled with rows of serrated teeth, ready to rip and tear.
As Kaori locked eyes with the grotesque creature before her, terror surged through her veins, causing her legs to buckle beneath her. She collapsed to the ground, the dull thud of her knees striking the unforgiving concrete echoing in the tense silence. That faint sound, however, was enough to draw the attention of the monstrous bio-weapon.
With a menacing, gurgling roar that reverberated through the air, the grotesquely mutated shark surged forward. Its massive form glided over the street, the glint of its jagged, razor-sharp teeth promising to devour anything in its path. The sheer ferocity of its approach sent a wave of cold dread crashing over them all as it bore down with a singular, terrifying intent: to feast on them.
"Run!" Haruno shouted as she fired several rounds from the pistol Shizuka had given her, trying to fend off the shark while everyone else fled.
"W-where do we go?!" Miura yelled, flinching as the shark hurled an entire vehicle through the air after merely brushing against it.
"Hurry, this way!" Hayato called out, pointing toward a blockade of vehicles they had passed earlier.
"Come on, hurry!" Iroha urged, glancing back at Miho, a fellow member of the student council, who was gasping for breath.
"K-Kaicho, I can't keep going! My legs!" Miho struggled to say, her speed faltering as her legs trembled beneath her.
"Don't stop! Don't you dare stop!" Iroha shouted, grabbing Miho's wrist. "I don't want anyone else to die!"
Shizuka cursed as she realized her pistol was out of ammo and couldn't help. As she ran alongside Haruno, she heard the familiar click of an empty magazine.
Haruno cursed as she pulled the trigger, but it was useless. Even after firing a full magazine at the large mutated shark, the damage she inflicted seemed minimal, if not entirely ineffective, against its tough skin.
"Shizuka! What do we do?!" Haruno yelled as she ran, her heart racing. The sound of the bio-engineered shark growling behind them and tossing aside any vehicle in its path filled her with dread.
"I—I... just run!" Shizuka shouted, equally unsure of what to do.
Glancing back, Haruno's eyes widened in horror at how close the shark had gotten despite its enormous size. Its massive jaws snapped and hissed as it lunged for them, and it wouldn't be long before it caught up.
Is this it? Shizuka thought with despair as the shark's jaws snapped down again. Is this as far as we go?
As she and Yui helped her classmates scramble over the crumpled blockade of vehicles, Yukino's heart raced when she spotted Haruno and Shizuka darting away from the monstrous shark. There was barely a foot of space between them, the predator dangerously close.
"Neesan!" Yukino screamed, her voice torn between urgency and terror, her eyes wide as the shark opened its gaping maw, ready to crush her sister in an instant.
The foul breath of the bioweapon washed over Haruno, and dread clawed at her throat. She swallowed hard, forcing a smile to her sister.
"Don't look, Yukino-Chan," Haruno whispered as she prepared herself.
"Haruno!" Shizuka shrieked, desperation lacing her voice as she watched helplessly, unable to do anything to help.
Her yell echoed painfully in the charged air, drawing the horrified gaze of everyone who dared to glance back, faces contorted in disbelief as death loomed. Hayato, who had been struggling alongside Yoshiteru to lift Maki over a truck, felt a cold wave of dread wash over him as he realized another life was about to be violently extinguished right before his eyes.
"Haruno!" He yelled.
As the shark's jaws snapped shut, poised to unleash its lethal bite, a dazzling streak cut through the chaos of the street. The force of a speeding projectile struck the creature's massive skull, igniting an explosion of fire and smoke that sent the beast reeling and crashing into a parked vehicle with a thunderous impact.
From the shadows of several alleyways, Hiroyuki emerged, rallying his squad with unwavering resolve. They lined up before the startled Sobu students, rifles raised like modern-day knights preparing for battle. Stepping forward, Yuichi and Mikio, eyes steely with determination, pulled the pins on their grenades, hurling them towards the dazed shark with a fierce battle cry.
The grenades rolled ominously beside the bio-weapon, and before it could fully regain its footing, they erupted in a symphony of destruction—fire and shrapnel tearing through flesh and scales, knocking the monstrosity back in a violent spray of gore and smoke.
"Fire!" Hiroyuki's voice rang out like a battle standard, igniting the resolve of his squad. Instantly, a chorus of suppressed gunfire erupted, drowning the street in the acrid scent of gunpowder and the fervor of unwavering bravery.
Behind the line of fire, Haruno and Shizuka bore witness to the fierce valor of the rogue JSDF soldiers as they bravely dismantled the monstrous predator. The mutated shark struggled to rise, its body a gruesome canvas of injuries inflicted by relentless explosions and gunfire. Just as hope flickered within the beast, Naoki recalibrated his under-barrel grenade launcher, eyes fierce and unyielding.
With a decisive pull of the trigger, the grenade soared through the air, a harbinger of doom as it collided with the front of the shark's skull. The explosion was fierce, obliterating the creature's face and caving in its grotesque head, a testament to the indomitable spirit of those fighting for survival.
Hiroyuki raised his arm, and in that moment, the gunfire ceased. The street fell into an eerie silence, reverberating with the echoes of their victory—a collective heartbeat of heroes standing against the darkness.
A hushed silence filled the street as everyone waited with bated breath. After several tense seconds, the infected, mutated shark didn't move again.
"Good work, men," Hiroyuki said as he turned to his squad. "Hurry, let's get them out of here. All those fireworks are going to attract a horde to our location."
"Sir!"
"The… JSDF?" Shizuka muttered in disbelief as the soldiers broke apart, some to guard the perimeter and others to jog up to her students to check for any injuries. She couldn't believe that the soldiers she had once thought were only here to kill civilians were now risking their lives to save them all.
Standing tall, Hiroyuki approached Shizuka with a small smile. "Hello. I'm Private Hiroyuki Okumura. I'm glad we managed to arrive in time. Is everyone in your group here?"
"I, uh, yes. This is everyone," Shizuka replied carefully, unsure of what to think.
"Good. I know this is sudden, but please follow us. Those explosions and gunfire are going to attract a lot of infected to our position. We need to move," Hiroyuki stated.
Shizuka knew Hiroyuki was right, despite her suspicions. She realized she had to set aside her distrust and get her students away from the street.
"Okay… I understand. Lead the way."
With five soldiers now leading them through the city and providing a new sense of security, Iroha couldn't help but sigh with relief as she walked hand in hand with Miho, while Ayaka followed closely behind. Iroha looked around at her classmates and smiled.
Yukino, who shook at the fact that she had almost lost her sister, walked closely beside Haruno, hand in hand, as Yui held her other hand for support. Hayato moved forward in a daze, closely followed by Oka, Miura, and Hina. Behind them, Saika, Yoshiteru, and Maki stared in awe at one of the soldiers. Meguri, Shiro, Eiji, and Kaori walked with shaky limbs, still rattled from their encounter with a monstrous shark that had nearly killed another member of their group.
Despite the horrific attack they had just experienced, Iroha couldn't help but smile. With the JSDF soldiers by their side, she felt a renewed sense of hope that things would improve from this point on.
I wonder if they can help us find Senpai. Iroha thought as she thought about Hachiman. She recalled all the events from the past several days that had dramatically changed her perspective, shifting from a life of peace and ordinary school days to the harsh realities of flesh-eating monsters and bio-weapons that could effortlessly take a human life.
I've made up my mind. When I see Senpai again, I'll tell him how I truly feel about him—no more games, no more false rejections. Life is too short for me to hesitate. Iroha thought, thinking about all the moments she and Hachiman had together. While their relationship didn't begin with the purest intentions, she couldn't deny that Hachiman had inadvertently shoved himself into her life and heart.
With a resolute smile, Iroha nodded to herself and looked toward the road ahead.