Chapter 69 - The Hunted People

“Are you hurt anywhere?”

“No.”

“Good, let’s get out of here then.”

“And Jin?”

It turned out that Misa hadn’t been able to see Jin from her angle.

He decided to stick with complete ignorance.

With that much blood alone, even if he was alive, was a serious injury.

They wouldn’t be able to escape from that monster with him.

Even Misa was a hindrance.

But, he still wanted the people alive to survive.

“...Jin is fine.”

“Where?”

“He surely moved earlier. So, let’s go?”

lIf they didn’t hurry and move, it would become unlikely that another car would give them a ride.

They must have been watching their situation as they drove.

If he called for help outside a car, they would probably help.

He thrust the iron pipe into the glass window that had a crack in it and smashed it.

Then, they crawled out of it.

“...Huh?”

Although it was unavoidable, he felt stupid for letting out a stupid voice.

It was because all of the cars in front had been overturned.

To make matters worse, the car furthest back had been buried in the zombie herd.

“What does this mean…? What is this…”

The Truck Brigade had been completely annihilated.

Jin, and Airi, and Shigeto.

Everyone had died and only he and Misa remained.

It was already over.

He heard footsteps behind him.

Rough breathing and something hard struck the concrete.

He slowly turned around and saw the red monster stand there, grinning.

Although he said grinning, the frog-like being had no facial expression.

However, it looked like it was grinning.

For him, it looked that way.

“Riku!”

“Aaahhh!!”

At the same time as he did a somersault forwards, the claws crossed only a few centimeters above his body.

He turned around toward the red monster.

This was bad.

He ended up being separated from Misa.

At this rate, it was dangerous for Misa.

“Misa, run away!”

He shouted as loudly as he could.

He could probably not be saved.

In front was the monster, behind were the zombies.

This place was a straight road with no sideroads.

A tiger at the front gate, a wolf at the back gate.

However, if it was Misa, she could escape from the opposite direction of the monster and might be saved.

Furthermore, he would give Misa the time to do so.

“No!!!”

He heard the loud scream from behind the monster.

“Why are you leaving me!? Don’t leave me alone! It’s better to be with everyone!”

Misa shouted from the bottom of her heart.

Losing her parents, watching as the members decreased one by one, she had kept everything accumulating in her heart.

But even if that was the case.

“No! You have to run!”

He had to make at least Misa survive.

Even if Misa would escape from this place, he didn’t think that she could survive on her own.

She would naturally be preyed upon by zombies.

But even then, as long as he was here, he wouldn’t let her die.

It might just be self-satisfaction, but Misa’s existence in this world of crawling dead was proof that he had lived.

If Misa lived, he would become the person who had saved her.

“Go! Misa! Run!”

He swung the iron pipe at the monster.

The monster swung its claws.

As it did that, the front part of the pipe was shredded into pieces.

“Wha, with an iron pipe…!”

Immediately following, he was blown off to the side.

The monster had swept its arm sideways.

He crashed into the wall of a house.

“Ugh…”

His field of vision flickered.

A shrill sound rang in his ears.

Still, he used the short iron pipe as a cane and stood up.

The monster had already begun moving toward Misa.

He had to hurry and help her.

“Stop it…”

His legs didn’t move like he wanted them to.

“Don’t touch Misa…”

The monster raised its hands over her head.

It meant to swing them downwards.

He should hurry, but he wouldn’t make it in time.

“Stop it!!!”

The monster swung its arms down.

A bat came flying and hit the monster’s head.

“Don’t touch… Misa!!!”

Clothes that were torn and bloodied.

He remembered that figure.

This tone, that hairstyle, that voice.

“Airi… Airi!”

“Riku! Don’t zone ut! Kill that thing!”

“What’s the time until the zombies come?”

“Until we die. Let’s go, good-for-nothing.”

“Yes!”

Together with Airi, he once again turned toward the monster.