Volume 2 Chapter 18 (2/2)

At that time, her mother finished closing up the house, and came to the garage. She was carrying biscuits, canned food, and other emergency food, along with bottled water.

“Ara, Atsus.h.i.+-kun, good evening. Something troubling has happened huh. Mizuki, please pack these in your bag.”

Just as she’s told, she packs the goods in hers and her brother’s bags. Her brothers were designated to carry the bottled water.

“Well then, I’m going back. See you later.”

“Yeah.”

Mizuki smiled and waved her hand. ‘Because we live next to each other, we should see each other at the shelter right?’ She feels her anxiety fade a bit.

Suddenly she remembers that she left the hair dryer behind. Mizuki wondered if she should go back and get it. It would be troublesome if people saw her bedhead – she thought. As she thought this, her father finished his conversation, and returned to the car.

“It looks like we’ll be evacuating with Takasaki-san. We’re leaving now.”

Mizuki gave up on the dryer, and together with her brothers, climbed into the back seat of the car. Continuing after them, her mother sat in the pa.s.senger seat. After her father checked his seatbelt, he started the car.

About half way to the elementary school, we could no longer travel by car. There was insane traffic. There were cars lined up down the street as far as the eye could see. Honking and yelling could be heard everywhere. You couldn’t move forward at all.

There were strange lines mixed into the noise. Apparently there were fires just out of sight.

“……..It’s impossible huh. Let’s get out here.”

Mizuki’s father cut over to the side of the road and parked in front of a shop. From there, the five of them got out of the car. Noticing the keys were seemingly left in the car, Mizuki spoke up,

“Dad, the key?”

“It’s fine to leave them! People would be troubled if they couldn’t move it.”

“O, okay…..”

Though she was worried whether the car would be stolen or not, Mizuki stayed quiet and nodded. That it took until now to realize that they should abandon the car to evacuate to the nearby elementary school, she didn’t understand.

There, someone’s figure was running up to them. It was Atsus.h.i.+.

“Mizuki! Is your car okay?”

“Yeah, it’s because we are in a hurry.”

Her father noticed Atsus.h.i.+,

“Atsus.h.i.+-kun, you’re by yourself? Where are your parents?”

“They are taking the car to the house and coming back as it seems we won’t be able to get there with it. It was decided that I would go on ahead by myself. Can I accompany you guys?”

“Is that so…. Alright, we’ll go together.”

When the Takasaki family’s car U-turned into the opposite lane, several people jumped out in front of them. A dull thud resounded as their car crashed into them. One after another they fell as the car ran over their collapsed bodies, until it came to a stop.

“They’ve done it….”

Mizuki’s father mutters, dumbfounded. A puddle of blood spreads from under the car.

“Eh…..”

His mind coming to understand the situation, Atsus.h.i.+’s voice leaks. In front of his eyes, his parents ran over people.

“Let’s go! We have to help them!”

To her father’s voice, Mizuki comes to her senses. Even if she is told to hurry, the earlier spectacle left her frozen. The car door opens, and as the fl.u.s.tered Takasaki couple is standing in front of the bodies, men running from the side road jump out at them. The husband and wife are dragged to the ground and scream. With crazed motions, the men slam the couple’s arms to the ground, press into them, and bite their face.

“Wa…..”

Without thinking, Mizuki’s father stops in his tracks.

“Wa, what the……?”

Dumbfounded, his voice leaks out. Within his line of sight, several more shaking figures appear. Some are drenched in blood, other’s limbs are broken. The atmosphere was completely abnormal. Right then, beside him, a girl’s scream was heard.

He looks back, and not even five meters away, from the shadow of the side road, a ma.s.s of people were pouring out. They all had similar hollow eyes, staggering as if they were sick. In the next moment, as if their earlier slowness was a lie, the ma.s.s of people began to move. They haphazardly attacked the people in the line of traffic.

Mizuki rigidly stared at the middle age woman approaching her. It was a normal old lady, one you would pa.s.s by on the sidewalk without even noticing. With her hands hanging loosely at her sides as if on a brisk walk, she came closer. Both her hands and her mouth were dyed red, and her eyes were hollow. Right when her hands were about to reach Mizuki,

“Run away!”

Her father crashed into the woman’s body. The woman is slammed into a car, and while staggering, gets back up. Screams arise from their surroundings, as if they were a herd attacked by a predator, and people scattered.

Mizuki instinctively searched through the surrounding crowd of people, and found her brothers standing between two cars. She grabbed their hands, squeezing them tightly; and while pressing through the crowd, ran away.

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