After leaving the kitchenware store, Sosuke Kitahara and the others continued down the corridor, knocking firmly on the glass of every shop they passed to make sure nothing was amiss before moving on. Food and supplies were no longer a concern the mall's stockpile alone could feed and sustain the settlement for months if they took most of it.
The moment they stepped onto the fourth floor, their eyes lit up. One of the shops housed several massive decorative aquariums, with colorful fish swimming leisurely inside. Surprisingly, none of them showed any signs of zombification.
"That's strange. Why haven't these fish turned into zombie fish?"
Utaha Kasumigaoka hurried over to the largest tank, watching several gourami lazily swish their tails. The other smaller fish were just as relaxed.
Haruno Yukinoshita carefully opened the lid, took a deep sniff, and said, "I don't smell that rotten stench zombies have. Looks like fish are the same as humans not all of them turn into those corpse-fish you see in the ocean."
"So that means… we can have fish for dinner tonight?" Utaha's eyes sparkled with excitement.
Haruno smiled and nodded, closing the lid again. Of course, they weren't going to eat ornamental fish Utaha was referring to the live ones in the supermarket downstairs.
"Wait! Is someone shouting for help?"
Yukino Yukinoshita suddenly froze, then rushed over to the railing. From where she stood, she could see the third-floor kitchenware store clearly. No zombies in sight… but she did spot Fujishima leading Tsumura, who waved up at her as they headed upstairs. Yukino frowned. "Did I mishear?"
"You didn't. Someone's definitely calling for help," Sosuke Kitahara said as he leaned over the railing, scanning the area. The cries grew louder, accompanied by a dull, rhythmic pounding. Yet nothing seemed out of place on the first floor, people were busily hauling supplies with carts.
"What's going on, brother?" Fujishima asked warily as he approached, noticing Sosuke's serious expression.
"There are survivors upstairs," Sosuke said, pointing upward.
Fujishima glanced up, his brow furrowing. The next moment, they exchanged a look, tightened their grip on their weapons, and hurried upstairs. Following the sound, they reached the mall's top-floor office area and were surprised to find the cries coming from inside an elevator.
"No wonder so many zombies were falling from the top floor earlier… they must have been drawn by these people," Utaha muttered, realization dawning.
The narrow corridor still reeked faintly of corpses. Black handprints smeared the walls, and several mutilated bodies lay on the ground, swarmed by flies.
"They've rotted… been dead for a while," Yukino warned, her guard up.
"Help us! Please, get us out of here!"
The people inside had clearly heard them and began shouting frantically. Tsumura crouched in front of the elevator, pressed his ear to the door for a moment, then turned to Fujishima. "There are women in there maybe more than one. Should we crack the door open a bit to check?"
Shizuka Hiratsuka's brows knitted tightly. Her tone was firm. "If they could open it themselves, they wouldn't still be in there. Don't forget the memorial photo in the lobby this could be a trap."
"Here's what we'll do. Tsumura, go get a few more men, and have those on watch in the vehicles report any changes immediately," Fujishima ordered, clapping him on the shoulder.
Sosuke found a crowbar in a nearby office and wedged it into the gap with a metallic clang. Before he could pry further, Fujishima grabbed his arm and shouted toward the elevator, "Hey! How many of you are in there? Men and women?"
"Five! Three men, two women! Please, get us out!"
The answer made Sosuke and the others pause. That many people in such a small space? Fujishima leaned closer and murmured, "Too many men… if they've got guns, we might not handle it."
"Even if it's a trap, they're just bait," Sosuke said with a cold smirk. "If the fish don't bite, the ones hiding behind won't show themselves. And we're not exactly easy prey if it is a trap, who's the hunter and who's the prey is still up for debate."
Without hesitation, Sosuke began forcing the door open. Fujishima thought for a moment, then joined in. Soon, with a dull snap, something inside gave way, and they pulled the doors apart.
The elevator car wasn't level with the floor, stuck between two levels. Thankfully, the inner door had been forced open, and the trapped people were jumping and reaching desperately toward them. In the dim light, their faces were impossible to make out.
Bringing two more men over, Tsumura peered inside, slapped away a grimy hand reaching out, and snapped, "Didn't you say there were women? Ever heard of ladies first?"
"I'm a woman! Pull me up!"
Two women quickly squeezed forward, and the remaining men helped boost them up. Tsumura waved to the others. "Give me a hand get her up here."
With combined effort, they pulled up a strikingly attractive woman in her thirties. Sosuke's brow furrowed when he noticed the man beside Tsumura give her backside a quick squeeze as she emerged.
The woman yelped in shock, shoving him away. "What… what do you think you're doing?"
"Sorry, slipped," the man said with a grin that was anything but apologetic, his eyes roaming shamelessly over her.
Sosuke wasn't the only one who noticed. Shizuka Hiratsuka frowned in displeasure, letting out a low humph. Fujishima and Tsumura pretended not to see, and Tsumura simply urged, "Quit dawdling. Let's get the rest of them out."
In the apocalypse, moments like this weren't rare. In some private settlements, worse far worse was common. Sosuke didn't bother judging right or wrong; it was meaningless here.
Out here, morality and law weren't guaranteed. Everything depended on the kind of people you ran into.
What disappointed Sosuke was that although Fujishima enforced rules within the settlement, he turned a blind eye to his men's behavior outside. Those who stayed inside were often either meek sheep or bluffing cowards but outside, you could meet people who looked harmless yet were, in truth, wolves in sheep's clothing.
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