Volume 2 Chapter 20 (2/2)

Cautiously, they stepped outside. There was n.o.body around, the place was uninhabited. Mizuki let out a sigh of relief, and adjusted the bag on her shoulders.

(See, it’s just as I predicted. There isn’t something like zombies…….)

“Oi, what are you doing?”

Surprised at the voice, Mizuki turns towards it. When she turns, she sees Yusuke standing there. He looks at them questioningly.

He was returning to get his bag that he left. She found someone she shouldn’t have found. Taking her brothers along with her, she turns and runs in the opposite direction.

“Where are you going!? It’s dangerous!”

(There’s no way it’s dangerous!)

Suppressing the urge to shout this, Mizuki responds by yelling,

“We’re going home!”

“Ta-kun, Ma-kun, let’s go home!”

In response to that joyful voice, her brothers make strange faces, but quietly follow along. They open the double swinging doors at the back of the backyard section.

There, Mizuki froze.

She saw three people standing by the fruit corner. All three of them looked in her direction. It was the same atmosphere as that night.   (TL: Day zero night)

Their gaze was full of malice. They had the look of predators. She felt their gaze pierce through her body.

“Ah…..”

Before she could say anything, a man approached from between two shelves.

“Old, Old man…..” (TL: “Oji, san….” It’s the old man employee)

She muttered while dumbfounded.

It was the employee that was the first to leave. Half of his scalp was peeled back, exposing the skull underneath. The hair and skin were hanging beside his ear. His eyes were hollow and he had dried blood coating his chest and stomach.

No matter how you looked at it, he was dead.

Her brain stopped thinking all together.

“What are you doing?!”

Yusuke’s voice overlapped with the man coming to attack. Mizuki trips over her legs and falls. Missing her, the man’s attack digs into the luggage on her back, knocking it to the floor with a loud sound.

The other zombies began to move.

Feeling something pulling on her arm, Mizuki looks and sees Masaru tugging on her. With a face that looks like he’s about to cry, he frantically tries to drag her to the elevator.

“What the h.e.l.l are you doing?! Hurry up and get the kids back out of the way!”

Yusuke runs over. He throws himself into the zombie that is trying to attack Takas.h.i.+, and together, they fall over. Mizuki tries to stand, but her legs won’t support her. As if all her strength had left her, she tumbles to the ground. With no other option, she crawls towards the elevator.

“Don’t act violently!”

Behind her, she could hear Yusuke’s angry voice and fierce fighting.

Finally, the three of them made it inside the elevator. While shaking and trembling, Mizuki uses the wall as support to rise to her feet. She looks at Yusuke, who is entangled with the zombies,

“Ah…… Takemura-san, h, hurry up….”

“Shut the door already you dimwit! Go! Go!”

(TL: He calls her “bokenasu” which literally means “dumb eggplant” xD)

While jumping, Takas.h.i.+ presses the b.u.t.ton to the 3rd floor. Slowly, the doors shut. In the narrow gap of the closing doors, Yusuke struggles to hold back the zombies. He loses to the power of the rus.h.i.+ng zombies, and falls to the ground. Cutting off the spectacle, the doors finally shut.

The elevator rises.

After what felt like an eternity, the elevator dings. Having left everything behind, they arrived at the 3rd floor.

With a sick feeling, Mizuki pulls her brothers out of the elevator. Slowly, they climb over the barricade and sit against the wall on the other side.

For a while, no one said anything. The elevator showed no movement. It remained at the 3rd floor the entire time. With a blank expression, she sat there with her brothers, staring at it for nearly an hour.

The elevator didn’t move at all. It was never called back down.

“Big bro, died.” (TL: Onii-chan)

With a soft voice, Masaru mutters such.

At those words, it felt like her hardened body was softening. Something was building up in the back of her throat. (TL: Feeling when you’re about to cry)

“Guu…….uu………..”

(We can’t return. We are all going to die.)

(I killed us.)

“……….uu………uuu……….gu………..”

(Even though I knew it wasn’t safe)

“Fuue……….uu……uu…….”

Mizuki sat there like, sobbing as if she were a child.

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