Chapter 38 - Not Now

Seven o’clock in the afternoon.

Everyone was sitting at a table in a corner of the conference room.

The topic of discussion this evening was agreeing on the members of the expedition tomorrow.

“First off, I, Ryou, and Rei are decided.”

“What!? Me!?”

Rei was surprised before anything else.

“See, you’re skillful at stone throwing.”

“Uh… Well.”

“Then it’s decided.”

“Yeah. Yeah?”

He was half-forced as a member.

“Then, I would like for Senior Yuuki to come too.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

The fighting power of range attacks was indisputable.

“I understand.”

“Other than that, I would like Senior Takumi, Senior Kazuma, Senior Jun, and Senior Seiji to come as well. Do you have any other suitable candidate?”

“Me?”

Daiki said while pointing at himself.

“Daiki is, oh, Senior Tsubasa too, please remain here in the school as a defense.”

“Got it.”

“Any others?”

“I will be going as well.”

Sayo elected herself.

“Senior Sayo?”

“Yes, if Jun is going, then I will too.”

He didn’t understand her reason, but for now, he thought of Sayo and Jun as a two-for-one.

“Me, too.”

Shinji elected himself.

“I understand. Then, Ryou will be driving. Let’s make Senior Takumi and Senior Yuuki will be the bus’ defense. The first supply procurement team will be Senior Jun, Senior Kazuma, and Senior Sayo. The second supply procurement team is Rei, me, Senior Seiji, and Senior Shinji.”

Everyone gave their approvals and the meeting ended.

The next day.

The sky had changed completely from yesterday, and the armored bus roared.

“Uooooh!!!”

Daiki let out a war cry as he opened the gates.

After not looking outside for a long time, there were no zombies outside.

Because, on the opposite side, Tsubasa played a sound and drew them to him.

“Alright, let’s get going!”

Ryou stepped on the accelerator, and the bus slowly started moving.

This was how the shopping district expedition started.

Inside the bus, none of them opened their mouths.

The fear and tension of going to an extremely dangerous place made each of them shut their mouths tightly.

It was probably like the feeling soldiers heading for the battlefield had.

There were only a few minutes until they reached the shopping district.

Since the glass windows were covered in iron plates, they couldn’t see any other scenery.

The windshield was removed, and half of it was blocked with an iron plate while the other half was blocked by wire mesh, and only the front could be seen.

By the way, the hole Ryou had made from the bomb was covered in wood.

The bus came slowly to a stop and then halted.

“We’ve arrived.”

“Then, let’s have a briefing session. The first group is heading east, and the second west. Secure food, drinks, clothes, and weapons. If you have more room, take luxury grocery items and amusement goods. Take the supplies in frequent intervals.”

“Understood.”

Since the doors were completely welded, they crawled out of a hole in the roof.

“This is…”

Cruel.

It was a gruesome enough scene that he couldn’t utter the word.

For the first time, except for Takumi and Tooru, they saw the hellish picture outside the protection of the gates.

Takumi shouted at the dumbfounded members.

“Operation start!”

Getting it together because of the voice, group one and group two headed in opposite directions.

He walked calmly down the main street in the shopping district.

By doing that, he saw a single zombie walking in front of him.

He set the sling, aimed at its head, and shot the stone.

The fired stone borrowed the centrifugal power and pierced straight into the skull.

There was a crunchy sound and the zombie’s brain burst open and scattered around.

Tooru showed a go-sign, and he released the tension in his body.

At that moment, someone slapped his head.

And his head was forcefully pulled.

“Ouchhhh!”

“Don’t relax.”

It was Seiji.

Being stared at by those sanpaku eyes made him freeze.

“S-sorry…”

He somehow managed to raise his voice and apologize.

“...You’ll die.”

Understanding that those clumsy words were out of kindness, he smiled broadly.

“Senior is a tsundere, huh.”

“What?”

“Well, didn’t you suddenly act affectionate?”

“... You, your personality changed.”

“Well, I graduated being a good-for-nothing.”

“I’ll give you a hard punch if we get back.”

“I’m really sorry.”

“...Geez.”

“T-that’s a patrol car, right?”

In the direction he pointed to was a patrol car dyed red from blood here and there.

Tooru approached it to check its state.

It seemed like a corpse of a police officer was on the inside.

Since Shinji didn’t move closer, he didn’t seem to have turned into a zombie.

He rushed over and opened the door.

“First…”

Tooru made an awkward body check and took a New Nambu out of the holster at his waist.

“A gun.”

Tooru brought it to them and showed it.

The metal had a black luster, seemingly waiting calmly for a favorable chance to be used.

“Who will take it?”

“Then, I will take it.”

Shinji received the gun from Tooru and put it in his pocket.

“Then, let’s split up and walked around nearby. I and Senior Shinji, and Rei and Senior Seiji.

“Let’s go, Rei.”

“Yes.”

He and Senior Seiji started walking down the sunlit road