Chapter 4 - Cycling
T/N: Quick heads-up, the narrative will now be in third-person.
The situation was utterly hopeless.
Any normal person would either give up or lose their mind.
And he—probably more cowardly than most ordinary people—was on the verge of losing his calm judgment.
But somehow, he managed to hold himself together, just barely.
And the idea that came to him in that moment might just be the brilliant plan to turn things around.
(Think! They react to sound! Find something that makes noise!)
He dumped everything from his backpack onto the ground.
The noise only drew even more zombies, but he didn’t care.
(Got it! My phone!)
He quietly played some music on his phone and threw it toward the main street.
The phone flew all the way there, starting to attract the zombies.
Then he knocked over a nearby trash can and squeezed himself inside it.
Holding his breath.
“Graaah… arrgh…”
“Uuurgh… aaaargh…”
He could hear the zombies groaning.
To Tooru now, it sounded as if the undead were calling him from hell.
Thud... thud-thud...
With each faltering step drawing closer, he desperately stifled the scream threatening to escape from behind his hand.
After a while, the footsteps stopped.
He cautiously peeked out from the trash bin.
A crowd of zombies was packed tightly within the small area where the phone’s sound could be heard.
If he were to dive into them, they would probably eat him down to the bones.
Shuddering, he packed his belongings back into his backpack.
He must never make a sound louder than the music coming from the phone.
He carefully picked up his things.
(Hmm?)
One zombie crawled straight toward him.
(W-why…? Why is it just that one!? This is bad… if I take it down, it’ll make noise… it’ll definitely notice me!)
His belongings were important, but more important was his life.
Holding his packed items and metal bat, he quietly slipped away.
He kept looking back multiple times as he moved forward, but it seemed the zombie was not following.
Using the phone was painful, but it was necessary to survive.
(More importantly…)
That zombie had been bothering his thoughts.
Why hadn’t it reacted to the sound?
No, judging by the fact it wasn’t chasing him, it seemed it hadn’t identified his location.
(Ah, a bicycle…)
He spotted a bicycle lying on the side of the road.
If he rode it, getting to school would be easier.
“All right, let’s move…”
He whispered softly, then swung his leg over the bike and started pedaling.
A few minutes after he started pedaling the bike, all he could see was a bleak, desolate scene.
The bento shop, usually bustling with people buying lunch, was completely empty.
Only bloodstains marked the shutters, which were closed as if to keep everything away.
(Horrible...)
That was the only thing he could say.
By the roadside, a zombie trapped by a seatbelt in a parked car was groaning, and in the butcher shop’s display window, a lump of human meat was stuck.
(What kind of sick joke is this?! Damn it!)
Holding back nausea and dizziness, he struggled to keep himself steady.
Soon, the school came into view.
The school Tooru attended was the largest in the region, with a very large student body.
Surrounded by roughly two-meter-high walls, the school had a north building and a south building; the north building housed classrooms, and the south building was for clubs and extracurricular activities.
By rule, every student had to participate in a club, but since any club with three or more members could be formed freely, that rule was rarely broken.
By the way, Tooru was in the broadcasting club.
(If it’s here, those things probably can’t get in thanks to the tall walls.)
Tooru reached the front gate.
“!?“
What caught his eyes—
The gate stood wide open.
The undead were wandering across the school grounds.
The windows were smeared with blood.
Tooru realized there was no peace here.
No, maybe not even in this world.
(This can’t be…)
He felt the strength drain from his body.
But for now, finding a living human was the priority.
Tooru took a deep breath and quietly stepped beyond the gate.