"What's happening, an earthquake?"
Utaha Kasumigaoka straightened suddenly, scanning in panic as the ground tremors grew heavier. When she caught sight of Sosuke Kitahara's face blanching in horror, her stomach turned to ice. Instinctively, she followed his gaze.
From the slope in the distance, an indescribable head slowly emerged followed by a hulking body that rose higher and higher as it climbed.
"My… God!"
The two rifles Yukino had just picked up clattered from her hands. She stared wide-eyed at the monster a humanoid giant, towering more than six meters tall, as if a zombie had been enlarged several times over. Its skin had been stripped clean away, sinewy muscles exposed in grotesque bluish-brown, like raw meat animated by undeath.
"Run!"
Kitahara's voice broke into a roar. He bolted for the pickup truck, the others stumbling after him, terror-stricken.
"What about Rin Ka?"
Kitahara slammed the driver's door shut, only then realizing someone was missing.
"She ran the other way!"
Utaha, in the passenger seat, whipped around and screamed. "Drive, Kitahara! Now!"
Behind them, the towering abomination was not alone. It marched at the head of a swarming horde an ocean of the dead.
The monster lifted its head, a guttural roar ripping the air. Its massive arm thrust forward. At its command, the tide of corpses surged into a sprint.
"Shoot! Shoot them all!"
Kitahara floored the accelerator, knuckles white on the wheel. But with the roads clogged by abandoned vehicles, the truck barely picked up speed. They were nothing but prey on open ground, surrounded by predators.
Gunfire rattled from the bed of the pickup, but the sheer weight of the charging horde drowned it out. Zombies dropped in rows, yet for every one that fell, ten more rushed in. Worse, some were faster, stronger, pushing ahead of the pack.
"I've got grenades!"
Haruno yanked the pin with her teeth and hurled the explosive.
Boom!
A spray of fire lifted bodies skyward, but the blast was pitiful compared to the cinematic explosions they'd once believed in. Yukino tossed two more, tiny shockwaves swallowed whole by the swarm.
"Blow the truck ahead! Block the road!"
Kitahara jerked the wheel aside as Haruno threw two grenades into the bed of a freight truck.
KA-THOOM!
The detonation tore the vehicle apart in a blazing fireball, vaporizing everything nearby. For an instant, the road was a charred wasteland.
Then.
ROAR!
Through the inferno, the giant strode out. Its tree-trunk arms swept forward, hurling flaming wreckage like meteors. Shards of steel and fire rained down on them.
"Hold on!"
The windshield shattered under the bombardment, the women screaming and shielding their faces. A chunk of debris slammed into the tire, blowing it out. Smoke hissed from the engine. Kitahara cursed, yanking the wheel hard into a field.
"Out! Run!"
They scrambled into the mud. Behind them, the horde was slowed by the wreckage, but the giant crashed forward, unstoppable.
Bullets rattled against its hide like hail on iron. Not even armor-piercing fire left a mark.
We can't break through its defenses!
The thought chilled them all.
"Head! Aim for its head!"
Kitahara's voice cracked as he grabbed a shotgun and fired, blast after blast. For a moment, the monster slowed, but then it raised a massive arm to shield its skull.
"…It's learning."
The women paled. This wasn't mindless. This was intelligence.
They turned to flee.
But Utaha skidded to a halt. "The weapons crate we can't leave it!"
She sprinted back toward the truck, grabbed the case.
"NO!" Kitahara's scream tore from his throat.
The monster hurled a corpse like a javelin. It smashed into Utaha, knocking her sprawling.
"Utaha!"
Kitahara's body moved before thought. He launched forward, kicking off the ground with desperate strength. His heel slammed into the monster's ankle.
CRACK!
The giant bellowed, staggering, collapsing sideways with a thunderous crash.
Kitahara dragged Utaha up and ran. But as he did.
A wave of dizziness hit. His strength vanished, breath ragged, body collapsing into the mud.
Not coincidence. Not weakness.
The vaccine.
The incomplete dose was failing him. The virus inside his blood was waking again.
"Kitahara! Get up!"
Utaha clutched his arm, hauling desperately. Yukino rushed in, shouldering his weight. Together, the women dragged him into the forest.
The giant's howl shook the trees, but the dense woods slowed it. Trees splintered as it raged, yet the four of them tumbled downslope, rolling like rag dolls until they landed in the muck of a field.
Kitahara staggered up, mud caked on his face, and yanked the others to their feet. The monster slipped, crashing into farmland, half-buried in mud, thrashing in fury but unable to rise.
"Now! Run!"
They scrambled to the road, found abandoned cars, keys still on corpses within. Engines roared to life. They sped away just as the giant tore free and bellowed at the heavens, rage shaking the earth.
Utaha's voice trembled, eyes wide with horror. "Kitahara… what was that thing? Another mutation?"
Kitahara's face was pale as death. "…Second-stage. With its size and the ability to command the horde… call it a Tyrant."
Half an hour later, the car hummed steadily along smooth asphalt. Utaha kept glancing at Kitahara, whose head lolled back, pale and drenched in sweat.
"You okay?" she whispered.
"I'll live. Water helped. Just… drained." He forced a weak smile, then asked hoarsely, "And you? Everyone?"
Yukino passed him a clean handkerchief, while Haruno rummaged through their supplies for bandages. "We're fine. A few bruises. Honestly… surviving that means our fates aren't cursed yet."
Kitahara chuckled faintly, though his body felt leaden. He handed his heavy pack to Utaha. "Check the ammo. Toss anything faulty. And that case you nearly died for what's inside?"
Utaha opened it reverently. "A sniper rifle. Don't know the model… but if someone locked it in this, it's no ordinary weapon."
Still, her gaze lingered on him more than the rifle. She reached to steady him. "You're done driving. Haruno can take the wheel. I'll patch you up."
Kitahara slumped back, too weak to resist. "Fine. But you'll have to take care of me. I… might've overdone it. Kicking that thing down nearly killed me."
Utaha shot him a glare, her tone half relief, half exasperation. "Funny how you only collapse when it counts. Didn't see you weak the night you pushed me two, three times without restraint…"
Yukino and Haruno exchanged glances, faces stiffening. Utaha flushed faintly, swatting Kitahara's wandering hand away.
But her voice softened with worry. "…Kitahara, once we reach Yamanashi, we have to find a specialist. Your body's changing. If that vaccine's the cause… we need answers."
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