Day: 2
Location: Osaka Main Road (Location not yet determined)
Time: 12:27 P.M
Remaining time before Night: 5 hours and 33 minutes left
With Kyosei's suggestion and Nanami's maps, the bus finally stopped at a nearby convenience store. The place had clearly been ransacked, with all the shelves toppled over. Still, it seemed like not all of the supplies were fully looted, as there were still some canned goods, some junk food, bottled water, and even a few ready-to-heat foods. It isn't much, but it was enough to keep the group from being hungry for a few days' worth, especially if they fully tightened their consumption to a limited amount and didn't eat three times a day.
"Damn, this isn't much. It's not even enough to fully last a week," Souichi groaned after he loaded the final box containing the supplies.
"Well, what choice do we have? This convenience store has been looted before our arrival. I am not even surprised by it, but this is a problem for us in the long run," Sena sighed while sorting the canned goods and the perishable food into different boxes.
Souichi looked around the streets and shook his head. "Still, it is kind of scary to see the once-busy streets be devoid of people. It's like the place has been abandoned for years, given how desolate the whole place is."
"Yeah. I passed here a few times on the way to school, but seeing it without anyone nearby is kind of disturbing. It would have been a bit more comforting if we saw at least a few people here and there, but not a single one in sight is totally disturbing." Okabe looked around the streets, remembering the old times he used those roads with his bike.
The streets are now littered with car wrecks and a few trails of blood. Garbage, broken glass, and even a few spilled foods are around the streets, signifying that there has been activity during the first day of the outbreak.
"Do you think the people in Osaka have already been evacuated during the first day?" Cindy asked.
Nanami is currently fiddling with her laptop when she answers them. "They did. It seemed like yesterday was the day they rolled out the evacuation process to the civilians. There are even some broadcasts telling the families to stay at home while the military rolled out the evacuation plans."
"If evacuation did happen yesterday, we could have seen more military vehicles here and maybe even the SDF (Self-Defense Force) should be around now!" Souichi frowned. "But the streets are oddly quiet!"
Chie, who is currently carrying the box of medical supplies, overheard them and decided to share her piece. "Do you think the government or the SDF anticipated the Night Rage? I doubt that incident happened just to us. With how the situation is happening on a global scale, all the military personnel are deployed to perform the quarantine and evacuation zones safely, but what would happen if the same thing happened to them during the night?"
Everyone was shocked when they remembered the close calls that happened on Night Rage. The incident of zombies running at night and various infected variants appearing- wouldn't that mean the situation is much more threatening than necessary? Chie continued to speak out.
"I am not trying to belittle the SDF, but they are human as well, and during the morning outbreak, I can tell they did follow the emergency protocols to a T, especially securing various facilities to become evacuation centers or even quarantine zones while the experts are trying to assess and study the whole zombie thing. I think they might have even ordered civilians who refused to go to evacuation or those who couldn't evacuate in time to just stay at home and follow curfew while the situation remains unclear and the government and military are pacifying people."
Miyuki chimed in afterwards. "But that changed a lot when the night rage occurred yesterday, right?"
Chie nodded. "Correct. The government did everything right; even the military might have already tried to contain the situation and keep the casualties minimal, but that's only functional if we are talking about the "fast shamblers" zombies. Sure, they are like that during the morning, but we all know what happened to them that night. Shamblers turned to sprinters, and those hurlers come in to join. That would make the evacuation centers, quarantine zones, and many other areas become a big danger and a trap. I am not gonna be surprised if a few of those evacuation centers or quarantine zones have collapsed and been taken over by the zombies."
"Wait, are you telling us that the government has fallen?" Souichi's sweat trickled down his forehead.
"Not really. More like they got caught off guard. We still don't know how the Night Rage works, but based on the speculation and on what we experienced last night, I can only assume that the government has not yet fallen. Maybe in a state of anarchy or close to that, but they are still there. I can guess there are also a few quarantine or evacuation zones that have survived the first night's rage, and if they did survive the onslaught last night, the remaining forces might either relocate or even abandon the survivors, depending on the situation."
That's when Kyosei came out with a box in his hand and sighed. "In short, evacuation is a no-go, and we can't expect to receive help from the military or the government anytime soon. Right now, we are on our own. Is that what you are saying?"
Chie grinned and made a finger-gun gesture with both hands. "Ding-ding! You are correct. As I was saying, with the situation last night, I can roughly guess that there are only a few people left who are still alive right now, and the reason we are not seeing any survivors right now is partly thanks to the event last night."
"Then, wouldn't we need to find a place we can stay the night? The bus can move, but with those zombies sprinting at our bus at night and with zombies that can throw things, wouldn't we become a sitting duck at that point?" Miyuki frowned.
"Wouldn't driving at night be a better option?" Souichi asked.
Miyuki shook her head. "Even if we can continue to drive, it is dangerous at night, and we can't just expect Mr. Leo to continue driving through the night and expect to survive the night. We need to find somewhere safe and a bit easy to defend at night."
Mr. Leo came out of the bus, chiming in with the conversation. "That is true. And I think I have a good idea where we can stay. It is fairly safe and hopefully, it isn't littered with zombies, or it isn't occupied by desperate survivors."
Then, Mrs. Haruna, who was just quietly listening to the students, decided to join in.
"How about an underground base? As you can see, I know one, although it is at least two hour travel from here."
Mr. Leo looked at Mrs. Haruna and snapped his fingers. Then that means an underground area would be a better place for us to stay, instead of staying where I initially planned."
"How different is it?" Mrs. Haruna asked, to compare the difference of the two places.
"You mentioned it is a place with an underground, right? Well, the place I was proposing is a similar building to the Clocktower of Kirishima High, but I think the underground is a lot more plausible and even much safer than my initial suggestion. What do you think, kids?" Mr. Leo turned to look at everyone.
Everyone turned at each other, thinking on the situation. They then nodded in agreement. Kyosei voiced out everyone's agreement.
"Looks like everyone also agreed that Mrs. Haruna's suggestion is the best one. So before we go there, let's find a place we can refuel the bus before we head there. Possibly a gas stop with a mini convenience store we can loot."