"The road ahead's blocked."
Twenty minutes later, Sosuke Kitahara eased off the accelerator, hands steady on the wheel. His gaze slid toward Rin Ka. "How much farther?"
"Not far. Just up ahead," she replied, craning her neck to peer forward.
"Grab your gear. Everyone out."
He killed the engine a hundred meters short of a crash site and swung out with his blade in hand, eyes sweeping the surroundings. The road stretched dead straight, no side paths, only barren farmland stretching away on both sides. A dozen zombies, lured by the scent of human flesh, staggered out of the muck toward them.
Kitahara and the others dispatched them in a handful of breaths, their blades cutting swift and merciless. Farther off, two or three more corpses shuffled, but he didn't even glance their way. By now, he trusted the three women to handle such scraps without trouble.
"Wait"
Kitahara's stride halted abruptly. He crouched, eyes narrowing on a body half-buried in the mud of a rain-soaked field. What little remained was nearly skeletal, sunk into the earth days ago.
"There's… something inside it."
Utaha Kasumigaoka's voice trembled as she pointed. Curious, Yukino prodded the weeds aside with the spear she'd fashioned from a military bayonet. The body was little more than rot clinging to bone, chest cavity collapsed into black sludge.
Her spear nudged the ribcage.
Pop!
A slick mass burst open. From the gore, something black and eel-like snapped free, fangs bared as it struck straight at Yukino's face.
"Ah!"
She yelped, whipping her spear in panic. The thing flew back into the dirt. Kitahara, Utaha, and Haruno leapt forward, blades flashing, hacking the writhing creatures to bloody scraps. Only a severed head still twitched, its jaw gnashing blindly.
Haruno's lips tightened. "Snakes? No… looks more like eels. Don't tell me even eels can turn into zombies?"
"The wild's full of dangers," Utaha muttered, clutching her chest, breath ragged. "If even insects start turning… we won't stand a chance."
Kitahara didn't answer. He only tightened his grip on the blade and urged them forward. Rin Ka led, nervous steps quickening as the group pushed on toward the shelter.
They reached a stone-paved approach, slipping past the wreckage of overturned vehicles. Ahead rose a high wire fence and fortified walls, the silhouette of a compound that looked more prison than refuge.
"Something's wrong. No sentries at all."
Kitahara's voice was low, hard.
Rin Ka shook her head in panic. "No, it wasn't like this before. The watchtowers always had people posted."
Utaha's eyes widened. "Don't tell me…"
"Yeah," Kitahara muttered grimly. "Looks like they've already been wiped out."
No zombies outside, no movement within just silence. The place stank of death.
The path wound through pine-shaded hills. Sunlight broke in shards through the swaying branches, casting restless shadows over their advance.
"Think they kept dogs here?" Yukino asked cautiously. "What if… they turned too?"
Rin Ka shook her head quickly. "They did have dogs, but after the soldiers left… they were eaten."
"Shh."
Kitahara's hand flicked up sharply. He dropped to the slope, creeping forward until his eyes cleared the ridge. The women followed, hearts hammering.
And then.
"What the hell…"
Utaha's jaw dropped.
Two camouflaged tanks loomed at the shattered gate, barrels still trained on what remained of the shelter's central building. The six-story structure had collapsed in on itself, blackened holes marking where shells had struck.
"Binoculars."
Yukino passed hers without hesitation. Kitahara swept the scene slowly.
The shelter wasn't a makeshift camp. It was a fortress: sandbags stacked high, machine guns set on commanding angles, tanks like iron guardians at the entrance. The military had planned this. Prepared for it.
And yet… the ground was littered with bodies. Civilians. Armed men. Hundreds of them. Weapons and armor scattered like trash, brass casings thick underfoot. Blood had dried into dark stains across the courtyard.
But the strangest thing the dead were many, yet zombies were few. Barely two dozen wandered listlessly in the distance. Too few. Far too few.
"Strange… it doesn't add up." Kitahara lowered the binoculars, brows furrowed.
"Feels like a trap," Haruno muttered darkly.
Kitahara exhaled, the decision heavy. "So. Do we risk it?"
Utaha's eyes sparkled, fixed greedily on the scattered guns. "With that much firepower lying around? I say yes."
"I'll follow Kitahara," Haruno said firmly. "Live or die, no regrets."
Yukino hesitated, then nodded.
Kitahara considered a beat, then smiled coldly. "Fine. Fortune favors the bold. We'll enter. But first we need a fallback. Let's find a working car at the gate."
Minutes later, he stood triumphantly behind the wheel of a hotwired Land Rover. Its alarm had blared briefly, drawing a handful of stray zombies from the woods easily dispatched.
"Alright. Now we move."
Together, they advanced.
Closer to the compound, the reek of blood grew stronger, the ground choked with shell casings, severed limbs, and dried gore. It was like stepping into a slaughterhouse.
Utaha's breath hitched as the tanks came into full view. Not relics, but main battle tanks, modern and lethal. But both were scarred beyond recognition. One's rear armor was split wide open, tracks twisted off like toys. The other's side was crushed inward as if struck by something impossibly strong.
"…This wasn't just gunfire," Yukino whispered.
Kitahara's pulse quickened. He bent to lift a fallen steel plate, crimson stains streaked across its surface. The lettering, still faintly legible:
Chiba Temporary Shelter.
Proof Rin Ka had told the truth.
Utaha snatched up a rifle from the ground, but her face fell as she checked the chamber. "Empty. Even the last round's been fired."
"Doesn't matter. Grab what you can and move," Kitahara ordered. "Don't linger."
They scoured the corpses for magazines, stuffing mismatched rounds into their packs. But as Kitahara reached for a grenade belt.
Plip.
The stagnant puddle beside him rippled.
Plip… plip.
The ground itself seemed to shiver.
A low, thunderous rumble rose from the earth, so deep it set his heart pounding against his ribs.
Something was coming.
Something big.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, you like the story? Wow, who knew. Go ahead, drop a review and throw some power stones maybe I'll be motivated to keep going.
The story's already ahead on Patron. Go there if you want to catch up faster!
[email protected]/_theon
Change @ to "a"