Volume 2 Chapter 15 (1/2)

By the time Yuusuke reached the apartment, dusk had already fallen.

I carried the bag of alcohol and snacks that I picked up at a shop on the way. Taking the elevator, I made my way over to Kurose’s room.

“I’m back.”

I was stricken by light as I entered. As I took off my shoes, I looked up, linking gazes with Kurose.

“Eh…?”

My eyes were directly fixed onto her, stiffening up.

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock… after several long seconds, our eyes broke contact. I glanced over at the table, not moving an inch. There she sat obediently, both hands bound to the chair.

Yuusuke swiftly moved to the kitchen before letting out the breath he had been holding. His muscles relaxed.

“I’m freaked out…”

This was the first time Kurose had looked at him. At a close range, it was as if her eyes chased his. Other zombies hadn’t’ even looked at him directly. She clearly recognized him.

“…What the… If I call out to her, maybe I’d be able to bring her out of her vegetative state… Tokiko-chan… Tokiko-chan… Kurose-san…”

Kurose doesn’t react, piercing her gaze onto the table.

“…Ridiculous. Tokiko-chan, take the chair.”

Of course, there was no answer. I dragged a chair over to the porch and sat the bag of alcohol and snacks there. I took out a can of beer and pulled the tab, leaning against the handrail.

It was chilly outside, but it would only more and more colder from here on.

The darkness seemed to have covered any traces of the mayhem. It didn’t look much different from before the previous life. The streetlights softly lit the dark streets. No zombies could be seen.

Needless to say, it was still definitely different.

Only about 20% of houses provided light. The rest of the city was buried in darkness.

Said houses that gave off illumination could merely just be houses with their light switches left on. It’s difficult tell whether or not there would actually be survivors there. Although if I didn’t find any, then what? Do I once again become the food supplier? Nope. Not having it.

Just as he takes a sip from his beer, screeches of a car tires broke the night silence.

A car sped through the main street right before cras.h.i.+ng into another. The collision and gla.s.s shattering could be clearly heard.

Zombies began to gather around the accident, springing out of the darkness. Despite the family’s effort to struggle out of their seat belts, they had already been completely surrounded. A man and a woman, who I a.s.sume are the parents, were dragged out from the door. The daughter, who looked to be the same age as Mizuki, had her arm bitten off as she was thrown and dragged on the ground. More zombies crowded the area.

I heard distant screams before it was back to silence.

“……….”

Yuusuke silently felt for the bag. He pulled out some jerky and took a bite.

The next morning, I prepared some equipment like usual before heading to a police station that I found on a map. I needed some handcuffs for Kurose, as well as some weapons. It was nearby Nanba Elementary school, which I had visited earlier on.