11 Hope you don't mind walking.

"YOU GIVE THAT BACK GODDAMNIT!" I shout, chasing after Saya.

"YOU WILL NEVER CATCH ME ALIVE!" Saya screams, throwing a glance back at me.

She was running like a rugby player, with a rather giant sweetroll under her arm.

"GIVE ME BACK MY SWEETROLL!" I screamed as I kept sprinting towards her.

"KOHTA, CLOSE HER OFF!" I then shouted at Kohta who was running besides me with a plastic bow in his hands.

"YEEESSSSS… ARROW TO THE KNEEE!" He responds, using his plastic bow to fire an arrow aimed towards… me?

"TRAITOOOOOOR!" I shout as I fall face flat to the floor, the world around me going black. Turning myself around, I see Saeko looking over me.

"Let me guess, somebody stole your sweet roll" She asks with a deadpan voice as she keeps looking down at me.

"YES!" I shout back.

And just then, Saya walks up to me, the sweetroll… gone.

"Sepfier." She says while staring at me.

"Where is ma sweetroll woman!?" I respond, glaring at her.

"Sepfier" She says once more, seemingly ignoring what I just asked her.

"Yes that's my name, now where is..."

"SEPFIER!" She cuts me off before I could finish.

"WHAT!?" I shout back at her.

"...Goddamn it you masked idiot." Upon finishing her sentence, my vision starts shaking violently.

Closing my eyes, I felt like I was once again falling down…

After a few seconds of gliding through the darkness, I open my eyes. Only to myself staring at the ceiling of the sports store. With Saya leaning over me as she kept shaking me.

With… quite the shakingly tantalizing view if I might add.

"He even went to sleep while wearing that mask… idiot." She groans as she keeps shaking me.

(She probably doesn't realize I'm already awake, as the mask's shaded visor hides my eyes.)

After some seconds, she stops shaking me and just sits there, staring...

(Ok...it's getting way too awkward with the way she's staring at me now.)

"If you keep staring at me like that, things will start getting weird." I speak up without moving.

Saya remained rooted on the spot for a couple of seconds, probably processing the situation. Before turning beet red.

"Idiot, get up." She responds with a frown as she quickly stands up and starts walking away.

"Wait." I call out to her as I get myself to a sitting position.

She turns around and folds her arms.

"You… you don't happen to have a sweetroll on you… do you?" In response to my question, Saya just blinks at me and rolls her eyes.

"...Is that mask blocking the oxygen flow to your brain?" She turns around and starts walking away again.

"Idiot" She adds in a lower tone.

(That's four idiots in… five minutes or so? I think she's starting to like me.)

Chuckling to myself I shimmied out of my sleeping bag and rolled it up. Only to realize that it's filled with wet spots. And no, not 'that' type of wet spots.

(Hmm, maybe I should get a new sleeping bag. My clothes were drenched in corpse blood and I didn't take them off before sleeping yesterday. Well, no need to spend too much time thinking about it, it's not like these things cost me anything.)

Looking around, I could see the rest of the group scattered around the second floor. Nodding to myself I toss the ruined sleeping bag aside before picking up my bag and start walking towards the hiking department.

Getting there, I pick another expensive sleeping bag and roll it up as tight as I can. I then open my bag, and take out the remaining buns that I didn't try to offer last night, as they were in a less, pristine condition. Aka squashed.

(I don't know about the rest of the group, but I'm still eating these. Definitely not the time to be picky.)

With that thought in mind, I finally place the rolled-up sleeping bag snugly inside my bag.

(With the extra clothes being the only thing that takes up any real space now, I could stuff at least four to five sleeping bags in here if I roll them up tightly. As long as they aren't too large to begin with at least.)

Plan in mind, I start looking around the hiking section for the extra sleeping bags, trying to find a good balance between the size and the probable quality by its price tag.

I was mid search when I heard footsteps behind me. Turning around, I saw Saeko.

"Good morning." As Saeko spoke I noticed that she was wearing the stuff I gave her yesterday.

"Morning." I answer before turning my head back to the sleeping bags of decent quality that I found.

"Getting a new sleeping bag?" She asks as she walks up next to me.

"Yeah, I don't know about you. But I didn't exactly sleep in clean clothes, and my sleeping is in an atrocious state. So, I was thinking of getting a new one along with some spares, now that I still got the chance."

Saeko stays silent, seemingly in thought.

"I will pack five of them in my bag, so if you have any preference better tell me now." I add up as I point to my bag.

"I see, thank you. Any sleeping bag will do for me." She nods with a slight smile.

"Also, the only breakfast we have right now is mashed buns." I then point next to my bag at the packaged, squished food.

Saeko nods, walks up to the buns and picks them up. Leaving one behind.

"I will go ask if anybody else wants one, is that alright?" She asks, holding the buns in her hands.

"Just tell the rest of the group that they will be getting new bags as well. This sports store has some very good backpacks we could use. " I nod to Saeko as I speak.

"Alright, I'll call everybody here after they have eaten." she turns around and leaves after nodding.

A couple of minutes later, packing finished, I had taken my mask and balaclava off and was with a wannabe bun in my mouth.

(Ok... let's see. Right now I have five sleeping bags, a swiss-knife, a compass, a map, a flashlight, a spare change of clothes and a screwdriver in my bag. My bag is packed full with the only place left to add stuff being the outside pockets for small stuff like a gun magazine, and the side straps, probably for weapons of some kind. At least now that the rest of the group will have bags, we can get all the sleeping bags we need, along with space for anything we might need later. Ammo does take up space after all...Huh, I need to find the lone survivor and ask him how he can carry two hundred rockets when the only thing he's wearing is a blue tight suit.)

After I was done eating, I covered my face once more and then spent the next half hour picking bags that the rest of the group could use...

I must have lost track of time looking at bags, as I didn't realise when the whole group had gathered to my location. Until I turned around to find them all looking at me.

"Good morning, Saeko informed you of why I needed you all here?"

The group nods at me.

"Alright. Well, pick a bag that you like."

The group nods once more before spreading out, browsing the bags that were around.

(I admit, I sorta expected Saya to be all bitchy about it. But it's good to see that she's willing to at least take a bag… Even if it's a small one from what I can see.)

A couple of minutes later, the group seemed to have decided on their picks. With everybody except Kohta picking a medium-sized bag. Kohta, on the other hand, had picked a giant hiking bag, the thing being about half as tall as him.

"Uhhh… Kohta. Will you be able to run if that bag is full?" I ask as I scratch my mask with a raised eyebrow.

Kohta thinks for a bit before going back and taking a medium-sized hiking bag. It was still quite bigger than what the rest picked though.

(Well he is the go-to guy in regards to guns so it should be fine. Worst case scenario we just ditch the bag… He's probably thinking about ammo space over mobility or something.)

I nod to myself before speaking.

"Alright. I myself have five sleeping bags in my bag. See if you can toss the ones you used and get new, clean ones when you have the chance. You should also pack some spares just in case" I say as I point to the sleeping bags I had gathered on the floor.

The group looks at the sleeping bags and then back to me, silent.

"Should we really use so much space just for sleeping bags Naier?" Kohta was the first one to ask.

(Judging from the look on their faces, they either all think the same thing or they're still not used to the mask. If it's the latter though, then tough luck. The mask stays.)

"Ask me that again when you'll have to sleep on a dirty, rough, cold floor because your sleeping bag is in worse condition than the floor. Being able to have a good night rest is as important as being fed or hydrated. Otherwise, sooner or later, you'll start making mistakes that you would otherwise not make, mistakes that could be fatal… Or would you rather carry sheets with you? Because, end of the world or not, I am not going to sleep on a blood soaked bed if I can avoid it. Thank you very much."

Thankfully the group, especially Shizuka and Saya, find my arguments to be rock solid as they started picking some sleeping bags of their liking.

And in total, we now had nine sleeping bags.

(Well, if they were not sold on the importance of spares, it's their loss. But at least now we got enough for little Alice as well.)

With the packing done, we moved to the glass wall so we could assess the situation on the street.

"The big mass of corpses seems to have moved away from the front of the store hours ago and the number of corpses that are moving towards the west have decreased drastically… Either because the civilians there have moved past the bridge or because..." Saya pushed her glasses with her finger while she spoke, her eyes focused on the street.

"Our rendezvous with Komuro was planned at seven, so we got some time until then." Saeko spoke up.

"It 's still nine am. So yes, we still got time on our hands. We can either go now and hunker down in the park, or wait and see if the corpses will decrease in number even more." After saying my opinion, I turn my head to the group.

"It should be fine if we leave now too. From the looks for it, most of the corpses that were nearby had already moved away. I just hope we won't find another hoard approaching if we start moving." Saya speaks up after me.

"So we leave now?" Kohta asks.

"I don't see a problem with it. The sooner we get to the park the more time we'll have to scout the area." Saeko starts moving towards the barricade after she finishes talking. Seeing that we're moving out soon, I take the swiss knife and map out of my bag and put them in my pockets before strapping the bag back on my back.

"Alright, we are leaving now then." I say as I start following behind Saeko.

Getting to the barricade, I cut the duct tape with my swiss knife before sliding it back in my back pocket.

(Hmm, I'm glad I bought this swiss army knife, quite useful. And in a pinch, I can use it to stab a corpse in their pterion. While the screwdriver is safer in terms of reach, the swiss knife is better than trying to poke them with my finger. Furthermore, I can keep the swiss knife close in hand. I can just pocket it without it becoming a nuisance, unlike the screwdriver. Which I constantly have to worry about stabbing myself in the kidneys when it's not in the bag.)

Going down to the first floor we find the glass wall intact and the insides clear of corpses, thank god for small miracles.

"Let's check if we can force the door open. Turning the power back up might cause too much noise with all the electronics on the floor starting up all at once." Saya keeps moving after speaking, heading towards the glass door.

"There should be a back exit too, or maybe a fire escape." Saeko adds up, following behind Saya.

Getting to the door we check if we can open it manually. But as none of us knew how the door even functioned in the first place, we came back with only negative results.

I then take a quick look around the first floor, my eyes stopping at the counter, or more correctly, the door behind it.

"There's an employee only door behind the counter, might have an extra exit there. As the panic probably started mid-working hours the emergency exits should be unlocked." I say as I start walking towards the counter...

Reaching the door behind the counter I grab the knob and turn it.

(Good, it's unlocked.)

I open the door to find a medium-sized room inside. Two sofas side by side with a medium-sized table in front of them. On the far right side, I could see a small fridge. And in the opposite direction of the fridge, a door with the fire exit sign on it.

(I just remembered… I am thirsty and I packed only one bottle of water. Definitely not going to last.)

I take a quick look around the room before going in, then head straight to the fridge.

Opening it, I see some ice-cold goodness. Actually, it was just water and some soda, but hey… I'm thirsty and we are in the middle of a zombie outbreak.

"We got some cold water here." I say as I pick a bottle, and the rest of the group instantly flocks to the fridge.

(In retrospect, it was pretty stupid of me to forget to pack more water. Well hindsight and all that.)

After the group emptied the fridge of any form of liquid, packing everything in their bags, they then started looking around the room for any other things we could use. While the rest of the group was rummaging around the room, I walked to the emergency exit and tried to open the door.

(Unlocked as well, we're in luck.)

Peeking my head out, I saw that the back alley was clear of corpses. It seems we could safely leave from here. I close the door and turn around towards the group.

"The door is unlocked, we can leave from here, no corpses that I could see. " I say pointing to the door behind me with my thumb.

"There is nothing else here we can use, we should go." Saeko speaks up right after me. We all nod and get ready to leave.

"Same formation as before?" I ask.

"Yes, I think that would be best," Saeko answers.

We then leave through the emergency exit with Saeko leading the way. We first walk through the alleyway and then back into the main road.

(The place is really empty compared to yesterday. Not that I'm complaining.)

"Alright. From here we need to go twelve blocks straight east and then two blocks north. The park then should be to our right side. The bridge is one-block away from there." I was looking at the map as I informed the group of the ground we need to cover.

The group nods, and we start our little 'trip' to the park.

(Wonder if Takashi and Rei spent all night driving. In the anime they didn't stop anywhere for the night when they met up with the group on the bridge… Makes me wonder if they will just pop out a corner while we're walking towards the park or something. Or if they decided to be all kinky about it and went to a hotel for the night.)

Yet as we kept going, no 'Wild Takashi' appeared.

(Huh, I vote kinky hotel. At least the streets ahead look almost empty of corpses. Let's hope it stays that way.)

With that, I turn my attention back to the map, walking behind Saeko and not really thinking of anything.

Three blocks later, the corpses were even smaller in numbers. I also started seeing a couple of them that were not moving west and were just shuffling about aimlessly.

We could also pretty much walk in a straight line now, without having a corpse blocking our way.

"So after we meet up with Takashi we go with his plan of meeting with our families?" Kohta, probably feeling less tense from the decreasing amount of corpses around speaks up.

"Yes." Saya answers bluntly.

"Speaking of which, where are your families located, everybody?" Shizuka asks.

(I'm not liking where this is going.)

"Mine have already passed away," Shizuka starts.

"The only kin I have left is my father and he is overseas overseeing a new dojo." Saeko speaks next.

"My parents are probably both at home on the other side of the Onbetsu bridge." Saya continues after Saeko.

"My parents are not in Japan. My father is a jewel merchant in Amsterdam buying supplies, my mother is a fashion designer in Paris."

(Ohh I remember this part with Kohta's crazy rich parents. I wonder why in the anime it is never shown that he is, well, very wealthy. Or it's shown and I don't remember it. Hmmm, as for the others. Other than Saya's parents and Rei's mother, we don't ever get a chance to see the rest. Although I'm pretty sure that the cop with the sniper in the last chapter of the manga is Rei's dad. That leaves...Takashi's mother.)

Finishing my thoughts I lift my head from the map and realize that the group is now staring at me.

(Great… Now they want to know about my family...they're all dead, the end...)

"Whatever family I have is in Europe and they tend to travel a lot, so I have no idea where they might be right now." I answer bluntly.

"You did not manage to contact them?" Shizuka asks.

"No, my phone could not reach them..." I answer once more.

(Actually, that was a lie, I never tried to contact them in the first place. I took the sim card out of my phone before the outbreak even started.)

The group fell silent, and before anybody else could speak I continued.

"There is no point thinking about it right now. What we should focus on right now is making sure that we don't end up dead before a chance to do something about it appears."

The group remained silent.

(Oh come on, they didn't seem to have a problem that Kohta and Saeko's parents were abroad, why are they so bothered about mine? Do they think that I might be feeling trapped here because I am a transfer student or something?)

After thinking for a bit I speak up.

"But what I do know at least. Is that my family would never wish on being the 'thing' that caused me to be depressed… or the ones around me. I intend to honor that wish."

(A family with good relations would never want to see other parts of it suffering, no matter the reason. And I know that my real family would think that, so it's not like I am lying to them right now… Right?)

"We should worry about arriving at the park on time, rather than worry about the people that are on the other side of the globe right now." I add up.

"Y...yes we need to make sure Komuro is fine." Saya finally breaks the 'mood' the group was in.

"I am sure Komuro and Miyamoto are fine, they are both more than capable." Saeko adds after Saya without turning to look at us. Kohta and Shizuka nod at Saeko's statement seemingly snapping out of whatever caused them to fall silent in the first place.

After that, nothing really changed until we got near the sixth east block.

"Looks like none of them are going west any more." Saeko speaks up.

"Yes I can see that. We are pretty far away from the evacuation route after all." Saya speaks next.

"Should not change much for us. They don't seem to increase in number, so we can still walk past them easily." I say as I look ahead.

With that observation, we kept moving forward.

"You think the horde from yesterday might have overrun the evacuation route?" Kohta asks.

"Doubt it. Probably ended up stuck on a barricade, or met a hail of bullets." I respond, still looking at the map.

(After all, the bridge falls to the horde while the group is in Rika's house, if that was the same bridge that is… highly probable though. No way the police is going to risk it and split their forces by having two evacuation routes.)

"The ones near the store were still going west. Meaning that there was still noise to attract them… So it seems very likely that the evacuation is still progressing normally." Saya answers after me.

"Still, it's amazing how so many of them can gather together." Shizuka speaks up after Saya.

"No, not really. They are attracted to sound, so if a small horde manages to form, then they would make enough noise to attract more of them. Which would make the horde bigger and that would, in turn make the horde louder, causing even more of them to follow the horde. Rinse and repeat until you get a large horde stumbling around gathering more corpses as they move." Saya looks at Shizuka as she speaks.

"Woow, you're really smart Takagi!" I hear Shizuka say in amazement.

"HUMPH, of course. I AM a genius after all!" Saya responds with a huff.

I tried really hard not to chuckle at Saya's last statement as it would probably make her furious. But, for some reason, I found it… really funny.

About fifteen minutes later we reached the eighth block.

Looking at the map I checked the remaining six blocks we had to walk through.

(I have not seen any type of blockade so far. So the bridge near the park wasn't used as an evacuation route? Also the corpses are starting to increase in number again, I guess we have reached the edge of where the corpses were attracted by the horde. Nothing too dangerous though.)

As we kept moving down the street I heard Saeko speak from the front.

"Sepfier, how far till the park?"

"4 blocks straight, two blocks after we turn left and we're there," I say in a low tone lifting my head from the map.

Saeko just nods without looking back.

(Because I don't know if we will be near Shizuka's house like in the anime, I wonder if we can find a car to get to Shizuka's house. If Takashi arrives with that orange bike, we'll have to do three trips in total, one to 'check' the place, two to move the group there. Too bad so far all the cars I saw were in a 'toss me to the scrapyard' condition.

Also, while I don't know where we are right now compared to the anime, I don't think going anywhere else other than Shizuka's house is a good idea. For...multiple reasons. More importantly, if we don't go there, we lose the guns and Alice dies. While I do think that we should not be taking in random survivors, knowingly leaving the kid to die after she just saw her dad getting killed is just. Yeah,no. I'm not that coldhearted...not yet at least.

There is a fine line between self-preservation and cold-hearted ruthlessness. And, at best, decisions like these are impossible to just paint in black and white. But leaving Alice to die when I can do otherwise is just… )

Upon reaching the twelfth block, finishing our journey to the east, I raise my head, look back at the group and speak up in a low tone once more.

"Next intersection we go left. Then after two blocks straight and we will see a park that takes up a whole block on our right, that's our destination."

I see the group nod before I turn my attention back to the map. Once we reached the intersection we moved to the center and stopped. Looking to my left I could see the street we needed to take.

(That road looks… more corpse ridden than the one we are on, but it should be traversable.)

I motion with my hand for the group to move and we start going down the left.

As we kept moving forward I could see an increase in crashed cars ahead of us. While they did not really block our way, it was kind of unnerving.

(I hope the bridge is not blocked by cars.)

As we kept moving forward… I came to a realization.

(Wait, the group never actually 'crossed' a bridge. They just used the humvee's ability to traverse through water and just drove through the river. I guess when the water level was not too high? I do remember reading that a humvee, if equipped for it, can go through one and a half meter deep water. Hm, At least that means I can stop worrying about whether the bridge will be blocked or not.)

With that off my mind, I continue walking behind Saeko. It did not take too long after we walked north until I heard Shizuka speak.

"We made it."

As the park slowly came into view, I started scanning the surrounding area for Takashi.

(I don't see any orange bikes around.)

The park was rather flat, and while it did have some patches of trees around there was no place in it to hide effectively. In other words, Takashi was not here yet.

"Alright we are here. I don't see Komuro anywhere, so now what?" Saya asks.

"The park looks relatively clear, so I don't see a reason to head towards the bridge. We could find a vantage point and just wait." I say, turning around as I took off my bag, opening it and putting my map back in, then taking my bat out of the side straps before wearing my bag again.

"And what can we use as a vantage point?" Kohta asks.

(Hmmm… good question. There isn't any elevated ground around here that could help block any corpses that wander too close while also letting us easily see Takashi.)

Looking around the area my eyes fell on a box truck, with the cab facing us, that was abandoned in the middle of the street a little further away from us.

(That could work, the cargo box is too high for the corpses to reach. I am sure I never saw the corpses actually climb anything. The truck itself seems to be abandoned and not crashed. So, maybe, we could also use it to get to Shizuka's house.)

I point at the truck to the group.

"We can use the cargo container of that truck and just wait inside. With the lifted entry and the fact that corpses, from what I have seen, can't climb we should be safe ins..." Before I can finish Saya speaks up.

"Komuro won't be able to see us if we hide in there idiot."

"...I got that part covered." I answer Saya.

(I really want to answer with 'don't worry I'll make sure your boyfriend sees us' but she will probably start shouting. And I don't need corpses on our asses while we are stuck waiting.)

"Soooo… box truck?" I ask the group.

The rest of the group looks around, seeing nothing else that can be used, they nod.

Making our way to the truck, with me in the lead, I realize why it was abandoned in the first place.

(The wheels on the truck are looking in different directions. I might not be a car expert… but i don't think it is supposed to do that. I guess driving it to Shizuka's house is a bust.)

I crouch down and check under the truck before getting too near.

(Nothing under the truck,but...)

I could see somebody standing near the back, where the cargo doors are.

I get back up and make a silence motion, putting my finger on my mask in where my mouth should be at. I then point at the truck and make a slit throat motion and start walking towards the back of the truck, keeping some distance from it. Saeko followed behind me while Kohta stayed behind with Saya and Shizuka.

After the back of the truck came into view, I could see a corpse leaning onto the right cargo door.

(A corpse is kissing the backside of the truck. Wait… that sounded wrong.)

I look at Saeko and nod at her.

She casually walks behind the corpse and takes a swing to the back of its head with her bokken, crushing its skull against the container.

While I was walking up to her she took hold of the handle that was on the container door. Before she could open the door, I grabbed the handle along with her hand, stopping her from opening the door.

"Wait… Not like this." I whisper pulling my hand back. She turns to me, raising an eyebrow.

"That corpse was trying to enter into the truck, meaning something had attracted its attention to get into that position we found it in the first place. Open the right door with your right arm and move away to the side while opening the door. If something pops out… it won't fall on you like that."

She keeps looking at me for a few seconds before speaking up.

"I see, thank you." She says, finishing her sentence with a slight smile and a nod before she moved to open the door with her other hand.

As she opened the door I took a step back.

While nothing instantly jumped out, I was not wrong. I could see a corpse slowly walking towards the opened door. I look at Saeko and motion her to wait and make a 'one' sign with my hand.

She nods and stands still behind the door.

The corpse just walks through the open door and falls out of the container, falling flat on the floor.

I walked up to it while looking inside of the container before putting my leg on its back and took a golf-like swing on the corpse's head, causing blood to splatter on the asphalt while the corpse stopped moving for good.

I then open the second door of the container.

"Clear." I say as Saeko walks up to me.

"Good news is, I'm pretty sure that corpses can't climb up here. The bad news is… that corpse that was in here makes the whole thing smell like, ughhh." I say as I look away.

"So, do we look for something else?" Saeko had her hand on her nose as she spoke to me.

Looking inside the container once more I saw an extra door on the right side of the truck's cargo box.

"No, wait." I say as I take a deep breath of fresh air and climb inside while holding my breath.

I walk up to the door and open it.

"This should let the air flow through, taking that stench with it…hopefully." I say as I turn back and hurried out of the container.

(There was not a lot of blood on the floor of the container so it should be easy to wipe it off as the container is made of, probably aluminum?)

I then move to the side of the truck and motion for the rest of the group to come.

After they got close I gave them a rundown of the situation.

"So, we'll wait a bit here before going inside. By the way, I know I've asked before, but, anybody got a handkerchief or a towel? There is some blood left in there from the last… occupant." I point at the truck behind me after I finished talking.

Also, take a guess on who was not pleased.

"Couldn't you find a place that was not. This?" Saya speaks up with a scowl on her face.

Shizuka, the angel that she is, takes off her bag and hands me a towel. Ignoring the little princess, I take the towel and climb inside the container, wiping whatever blood was on the floor.

"Got a plastic bag to put this in or do I toss it?" I turn to Shizuka.

"Toss it, I have more of them packed." She says as she puts the bag back on her back.

"Well the place already smells a lot better and it has not even been even two minutes yet." I say as I walk to the edge of the container.

I then turn around and put my foot on the bolts of the container's door, using them as a foothold, I then grab the roof of the container and pull myself up. With the roof over my hips, I raise one of my legs putting it on the roof before rolling sideways.

Still laying flat on the roof, I turn, belly down and slide myself until I can see the rest of the group under me.

"You are free to come up here if you don't want to be down there Takagi. Though you'll be stuck up here with me then." I say with a chuckle. Saya just huffs in response.

A couple of minutes later and some re-dead corpses, courtesy of Saeko, the rest of the group climbed in the back of the truck. I was just laying there, flat on the truck's roof using my bag as a pillow with my bat next to me.

(I don't wanna get up… this roof is weirdly comfortable.)

I could hear the group chatting silently under me, but I couldn't really understand what they were saying.

(I am really going to fall asleep like this. Well, Takashi should be on a bike, so I should be able to hear it. Yeah… No, I should really get up and keep a lookout.)

Groaning, I get to a sitting position and lazily look around me.

Whatever poor corpse had gotten near was long gone so the coast was mostly clear. As for Takashi, I could not see or hear anything.

(I wonder when they will arrive...)

I sort of lost track of time staring at the same scenery afterward. I was starting to nod off when I heard a small thud behind me. Turning around I see Saeko climbing the container.

"Need any he… never mind." Before I could finish my sentence she was already up.

"It's alright, but thanks for asking." She smiles before looking around.

"Anything worth mentioning?" She turns her attention to me.

"No movement. Not from anything alive at least. But it is still too early to get worried, we're supposed to meet at seven. We still got hours before that." I answer without taking my eyes off the streets.

"Hmm..." She keeps looking around. A couple minutes of silence passed.

(Psst. Hey brain, think of a subject… help a bro out. It is getting very awkward up here.)

And then… an idea pops in my head.

(Thanks brain, hope I am not going to regret this later.)

"Hey, Busujima." I speak up.

"Hmm?" She turns to me.

"I was wondering. Would you be willing to help me train?" I ask without turning my head to Saeko.

"Help you train?" She asks, staring at me and tilting her head.

At that, I turn my head to her.

"You're the president of the kendo club and from what I have seen in the school posters, you also won the national championship. But honestly, just seeing you fight was reason enough for me. Right now I am probably not much of a challenge to you. Hell, I don't think I'll ever be a challenge to you, but that isn't the point. The point is that you're able to protect the ones you care for when the need arises. I can't" I say as I fold my arms.

(God, that was cringy. Felt like I was reading a line from a B rated superhero comic. But I could not think of anything else to say that wouldn't make this whole situation weird. It's not like I am lying though. I do want to make sure the group survives.)

Saeko just smiles in response.

"If you don't mind me asking. Who are the ones 'you' want to protect?"

(Is she doing this on purpose?)

I stay quiet and look away, thinking of what to say.

"The 'ones' who would also protect me if need be." I say, turning my head back to her.

She stays silent for a while staring at my… mask? Before she smiles once again.

"Don't expect that I will go easy on you then, Sepfier." She says, still smiling at me.

(And I do believe I just dug my own grave.)

"Ok, so… do I call you teacher, master or something?" I say shrugging in the process.

Saeko just chuckles.

"I would prefer if you just called me Saeko, if you don't mind of course."

(She is definitely doing this on purpose now...)

I nod.

"Call me Naier instead of Sepfier, and you got yourself a deal." I answer to my future torturer.

Saeko nods at me before going back down to the rest of the group.

(Oook. Sooo, this just happened. It… it did just happen right? I did not actually fall asleep and dreamt it?)

After making sure Saeko had gone down I pinch myself.

(Yep, as real as it gets… Though now I don't know if I should be happy, or scared that Saeko might get a bit 'too' excited during our training and send me to a coma)

And then, the next couple of hours passed uneventfully, especially compared to that…

I was once again starting to nod off, sitting comfortably on the roof of the truck.

(Why am I so goddamn sleepy after getting on this stupid roof?)

At least I was sleepy, until the silence was broken by the sound of a rumbling engine. Whatever drowsiness I had disappeared as my head turned to the direction of the sound.

(Either Takashi is here, or I am about to get shot.)

I hurriedly went prone as I kept staring towards the sound that was progressively getting louder. The rest of the group, foolishly ran out of the truck after hearing the sound of an engine.

(If this isn't Takashi, they are really letting themselves become easy targets.)

With that in mind, I speak up.

"Don't break cover yet, we do not know who is coming. Stay focused until the last second"

The group looked at me as I laid flat on the truck's roof. Shizuka and Saya got back inside the truck while Kohta hid beside it, aiming down his nail gun at the upcoming source of noise with Saeko waiting next to Kohta.

The next couple of seconds felt like an eternity… until. I saw an orange bike with two people on it.

(And the hero arrives ladies and gentleman.)

I slam the roof with my hand to signal that it's safe and then jump down.

"Takashi is here." I say, to Kohta and Saeko.

The rest of the group quickly gets out of the truck and runs past me. Once the bike gets near, Takashi stops it and gets off. I didn't really feel like joining the whole thing, so I just stayed back keeping overwatch for any corpses that might have been lured by the bike.

And the corpses 'did' hear the bike. The ones that were scattered around the park were now walking towards us.

(We will have a lot of unwelcome company if we don't move out soon.)

"Uhhhh…and who is that?" I hear Takashi ask.

Turning my head I see him looking straight at me.

And before anybody could speak.

"Apparently I'm a penguin." I say to Takashi trying to sound as serious as I can.

Takashi and Rei just stared at me in confusion.

"Or you know, Naier Sepfier, take your pick." I speak up again.

"Oh… ohhh. Didn't realise it was you with the mask on." He says before turning to the rest of the group.

(It's not like I was the last person in the group you didn't see, way to show that you don't even remember I exist dude.)

"So uhh, what's with the bags? And where's the bus?" He asks.

"We picked 'em up on our way here. We'll explain what happened after we get away from here though. The sound of the bike is causing the corpses from the park and all around us to walk towards us. Let's just go to the bridge for now?" I say, to Takashi.

Without much of a choice the group agrees and we head to the bridge, pushing the bike with us.

Upon reaching the bridge. We see that it was piled up with crashed cars from end to end.

"Blocked off." I hear Kohta say with a dejected tone.

"We passed some other bridges on our way here. All of them were just like this one." Takashi speaks up.

(No surprise there, without the police maintaining order and safety, most people must have switched to an 'every man for himself' mentality the moment the panic started.)

We decided to head under the bridge before making a decision on what to do next.

On the way there the group explained how we bailed on Shido, how we stayed in the sports store, and how we got here.

"You… stole the bus keys, and then you tossed them away?" Takashi asks with a baffled look on his face.

(Of course he would ask that.)

"I prefer the term. Borrowed, permanently." I say with a shrug.

"Heh… bastard deserves it." I hear Rei speak up with a slight grin.

After some minutes of silence, we arrived under the bridge.

"So what do we do now?" Kohta asks.

And the group starts thinking of our next plan of action.

(Shizuka should think of her house...right?)

A couple of minutes pass. And the group was not making any progress, or more exactly. Shizuka was not making any progress.

(Seems I have to push this train along.)

"Wish I had a tank right now." I say folding my arms looking away from the group.

While the rest of the group just stared at me. Shizuka's brain gears finally started to spin.

Finally, she claps her hands together and smiles.

"Ohhhh! My friend's house has a car that looks like a tank" She says with a beaming face.

(Thank you, thank you, hold your applause.)

"I didn't think of it as it's a bit far from here..." She continues.

"Tank car? I vote yes." I say raising my hand.

"Is it an apartment? How is the view?" Kohta asks.

"Ohh it is a maisonette near the river, it has a great view and a convenience store nearby." She says.

(I don't think that's what he meant by the 'view' Shizuka. Then again, you are you.)

"Is it your boyfriend's place?" Saya asks with a sly face.

Shizuka then gets flustered as she starts hurriedly explaining how it's a female friend, aka Rika, that owns the house.

I turn around ignoring the group's idle chatter and look at the crashed cars at the bridge.

(Contrary to the anime. She now says that the place is not near. So walking is definitely not a good idea. We either need a second bike or preferably a car, or be forced to make three trips with the bike there.)

I start moving away from the group, looking around for any vehicle that might be in working condition. A couple of seconds later, I hear Kohta going on an excited ramble.

(We just got to part with the guns huh?)

"Naier, is something wrong?" I hear a female voice from behind me.

Turning around, I see Saeko looking at me.

"We will need more than just a bike if the place is far, or we'll have to make multiple trips with the bike. Not something I want to do if we can avoid it to be honest. If we could just find a second bike or a car." I say as I turn my head back to the street that was filled with wrecks.

A couple of seconds pass.

"Wait, Naier? When did you two..."

"He would not agree with Ninja penguin." Saeko cuts off Saya as she glances at me.

I then turn around and stare at Saeko.

(I am starting to think that she was the one who started this whole damn penguin thing.)

I raise my hand and take a deep breath. Only to just drop my hand with a sigh before turning around again.

A couple of minutes later Takashi spoke up.

"We need to check out the house first. Miss Marikawa and I will go check the place out."

"We could also just use the car that is parked there to get everybody all at once." Shizuka speaks up.

(True… but if any survivors spot the Humvee, I am pretty sure that they will try to tail it. That… could get us some unwanted visitors.)

Before the rest of the group could speak up I started talking.

"I don't think that it is a good idea. If that tank car is really as attention-grabbing as it sounds, we would get unwanted attention on us. Desperate survivors would use desperate measures, better to use it only when it is really necessary." I say to the group.

After some minutes of silence a decision was reached.

"Alright… we will return with the bike and see what we can do from there." Takashi drives off with Shizuka right after saying that.

The rest of the group spent the next ten minutes looking for any extra vehicle we could use and clubbing any corpse that got too near after hearing the bike. Sadly, we found nothing so we just decided to wait under the bridge for Takashi to return.

I had moved away from the group, leaning against a pillar.

(Let's see… the bike could probably take… four people if we really push it. Right now there is Me, Kohta, Takashi, Rei, Saeko, Saya and Shizuka. While there are only seven of us we will need somebody to drive the bike back. So it still balances out to at least needing two trips. What is left to decide is. How we'll divide the groups.)

"Thinking of something?" I turn my head to the voice to see Saeko next to me.

"How can we split the group without risking it too much, as we are stuck with one bike." I say looking at Saeko.

"And? What do you have in mind?" She asks.

"Well other than the obvious that we will need to make two trips of four people as the driver needs to bring the bike back. Marikawa needs to be in the first group as she has the keys and well, it's her friend's house. That leaves two other people and three that will have to wait." I say as I'm still looking at Saeko.

"Well this does seem to be the only problem, so it just leaves us to figure out who goes when." She says as she tilts her head.

"Not really… I also think the ones that stay behind need to be able to fight as they will be left exposed compared to being in the house. So that leaves Kohta, me, you and Miyamoto. Meaning one of us will go with the first group while the others wait." I fold my arms as I finish speaking.

"Hmmm, any idea who will go first?" Saeko asks again.

"I got… nothing." I respond, shrugging in the process.

"Well, we can figure this out after Komuro returns. After all, we don't even know if the house will be in a good enough condition to stay in." Saeko then looked at the street that the bike took off from before she walked back towards the rest of the group.

(I know the house will be fine though...)

A couple of minutes later Takashi and Shizuka return with the bike. After the bike comes to a stop and the group gathers around, Takashi says that the house is in perfect condition. And explains that the tank car is an armored jeep, aka the Humvee.

Saeko then pretty much says to the group what I just told her.

"So, who from the four of us goes with the first group?" Saeko asks.

The group stays silent for a minute.

"I'll go," Rei speaks up.

And with that, the group is split up again. Now it was me, Saeko and Kohta left behind. There was not much to do now other than waiting.

At least. For the other two… Me?

(Zombie outbreaks and rainbow puking unicorns… What I really need to do is prepare myself for what will happen in that house… I already feel my 'I am being salty' meter rising.)