The supplies from the mall were being hauled out in an orderly stream. For all that these people had fled when the zombie numbers spiked, Sosuke Kitahara had to admit without their manpower, taking the mall would have been pointless; there'd have been no way to actually move the goods.
He and his three companions were resting behind the reception counter in the main hall, eyes sweeping the surroundings with quiet vigilance. The trip had been worthwhile he'd found a better-quality blade, keeping his old one as a backup, and scored a first-aid kit stocked with basic external injury meds.
A deep, rapid rumble suddenly rolled in from outside the mall. Work stopped instantly as people glanced around in alarm.
"What was that?"
"Such a loud noise… Don't tell me it's zombies?"
"No way that's an engine. Sounds like something big."
The crowd muttered and speculated until Kitahara's eyes went wide as the truth struck him.
"DOWN! EVERYONE GET DOWN!"
He threw himself over Kasumigaoka Utaha, forcing her to the floor. Haruno and Yukinoshita Yukino exchanged a glance and dove behind cover. Some reacted fast others froze.
A thunderous blast shook the air. Blinding white light flared beyond the mall's tall glass façade. The shockwave shattered every pane nearby.
Screams erupted as the slower ones were knocked sprawling. Luckily, the blast had been some distance away enough that the mall took only the brunt of the shockwave.
"Help us!"
The shrill cry came from above. Kitahara's head snapped up, fingers tightening on his sword. Several of the elevator survivors from earlier were stumbling along the sixth-floor corridor in a blind panic.
"…For this few zombies?" Utaha scoffed, unimpressed.
Only six or seven were chasing them. With Kakuta, they had five people up there enough to hold the floor's choke points. But to the inexperienced, the undead might as well have been certain death. One woman even lost a shoe, her shrieks sharp enough to rattle the glass.
"Well? Don't just stand there go help them!"
Michiko appeared, urgently trying to push Kitahara toward the stairs, but Haruno stepped in front of her. Yukino followed, her voice cool. "If you want to help, do it yourself. What are the men up there for?"
"I'm tired. I'm not your attack dog," Kitahara said flatly. He'd already seen what ingrates they were rescuing them now was just asking for a knife in the back later.
Michiko, rebuffed, turned a pleading gaze on Fujishima instead.
"They'll be fine if they don't get bitten," he reassured her.
"Funny, though where'd those zombies come from? We swept this place earlier."
Kitahara's brow furrowed as the panicked survivors bolted down the stairs.
Thud!
The ground trembled as the zombies leapt from the upper railings, landing hard before shambling toward them.
"Tch."
Yukino and Haruno stepped forward, blades flashing as they cleaved through rotting skulls, following up with vicious kicks to clear their arcs.
A few others joined in, and the rest were dispatched quickly. For the two women, this was routine now. Yukino idly weighed her machete, murmuring, "Kitahara's breathing method really does help. Feels easier every time."
"…We owe him more and more. Don't know how we'll ever repay it," Haruno thought aloud.
The elevator group stared, pale and speechless.
"S-so strong…" the young man stammered. To them, killing zombies was no different from killing people both were still moving, still "alive" in some way. Seeing two beautiful girls moving with such lethal ease was as awe-inspiring as it was terrifying.
"Ei…ko! You're not hurt, are you? Here, have some water. Why don't you come with us?"
Michiko hurried to help the pretty housewife, Eiko, who shook her head after glancing at her husband. But when she tried to hand him the bottle, Kakuta snatched it away with a smirk. "You can drink. But not him. He's got hands and feet let him find his own."
"This… this isn't your store! We can pay."
Tears welled in Eiko's eyes. Kitahara could guess Kakuta's real motive he'd set his sights on her. But her husband was still alive, and that was a line Kitahara wouldn't cross.
"Take the water," he said, "but nothing else."
Kakuta grudgingly passed it over. Eiko thanked Kitahara and hurried back. She was the very picture of an elegant, well-kept homemaker slender, refined features, twenty-eight or twenty-nine, in her prime. A woman who knew how to please a man without a word.
Like Sawamura Sayuri…
That kind of poised maturity had a pull that girls couldn't match. But unlike Kakuta, Kitahara's code was clear fantasies stayed in his head when a husband was still breathing.
"Look they've got an injury."
Utaha's voice cut in. Blood droplets marked the floor. All eyes turned to the young man his back was a mess of torn flesh, blood still dripping.
"I-it's nothing! Just a scratch!" He waved it off, thinking they feared blood loss.
"Idiot! We're worried about us. A zombie bite means you could turn at any time."
Fujishima leveled his blade at him. The others recoiled.
"It's not going to happen! I'm young and healthy believe me!"
"Believe you? Keep your distance," Eiko's husband spat, dragging her away.
But Kitahara's gaze fixed on him. "Your arm zombie claw, wasn't it? That can turn you too. Everyone should check themselves."
Eiko tugged at her husband's sleeve blood soaked through a torn patch.
"It was glass!" he protested, but Kitahara just shook his head. "If I were you, I'd stay back. Or you'll never see it coming."
Eiko bristled. "He'll be fine!" she snapped, returning to his side.
Utaha snorted. "Let her. She'll learn the hard way."
Kakuta leered. "You could always switch teams, sweetheart. My arms are open."
Eiko shrank closer to her husband. Haruno shook her head. "Good advice ignored only predators make them nervous."
"Why were zombies chasing you?" Fujishima asked Kakuta.
"They insisted on going to the office for something. Then there was an explosion. Next thing I know, zombies are at the door probably came down from the roof."
Tsunemura ran in from outside, whispering in Fujishima's ear. His brow furrowed, and he turned to Kitahara. "Plane went down. More in the sky probably from Narita."
"Type?" Kitahara asked.
"Civilian airliners. No fighters."
Kitahara's frown deepened. Yukino's brow creased. "Why risk flying with corpse-birds in the sky?"
"They know," Haruno said grimly. "If they're still flying, the airport must be overrun."
"So… airport next?" Utaha asked.
"Not yet. Give it a few days," Kitahara said. "We're hunting weapons, not death."
Ten minutes later, Michiko was still at Fujishima's side. The other four elevator survivors were kept under watch. The young man turned within minutes and was put down.
Michiko whispered something to Eiko, who glanced toward her husband slumped, sweating, fading. She bit her lip, glanced at the corpse nearby, then walked to Kitahara.
"Young man… I'm sorry. I shouldn't have spoken to you like that earlier. I know you were thinking of us…"
Kitahara shrugged. "Doesn't matter. But accept reality. You still have to live."
"You're a good person," she said. Kitahara's mouth twitched and there's the 'good guy card'. She asked to borrow the first-aid kit.
Her husband shouted from across the way, "No! I'm fine!" But each word left him gasping. She hesitated, then went back. Kitahara noted it had been fifteen minutes since the injury.
"If you love her, keep her away," Kitahara told him. "If you're still you by morning, you can go on being husband and wife."
The man studied his wife, then sighed, squeezing her hand before sending her across the hall. She clung to the spot opposite him, tears brimming.
"…Not everyone is heartless," Kitahara thought, oddly moved. He remembered Utaha saying she'd die rather than kill him if he turned. Warmth flickered in his chest.
Utaha's voice cut it cold. "Bet she won't die with him. She's already making eyes at Kakuta."
Yukino agreed. "If she wanted to die with him, she'd sit right there and let him bite her. Instead, she's been flirting across the room. Girls notice these things."
"You saw that?" Kitahara gaped.
"Never underestimate girls," Yukino said. "We're vicious by nature."
Haruno nodded toward Michiko. "Crisis strips masks. Without the apocalypse, you think she'd be hanging on Fujishima?"
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