Police Car

"Remember to take him away. Don't let him die."

Kurumi turned and headed toward the school bus. Just as Blondie and his group let out a sigh of relief, she paused again.

"Also, don't let him appear before me. Otherwise, I can't guarantee whether I might do something extreme. You'd best look after yourselves."

Tap, tap, tap— The sound of her round-toed boots hitting the ground slowly faded into the distance. The group looked toward Blondie, waiting for him to make a decision... wondering what they should actually do.

Vroom— The sound of the school bus engine roared to life. The tires gripped the pavement, and as the sky grew increasingly dim, Blondie and the others could only watch the faint red glow of the departing taillights.

"Tch! Let's go. At least find a house with few Dead Bodies and rest for the night before making other plans!" Blondie gritted his teeth, hoisted the unconscious Koichi Shidou onto his back, and ordered two of the other boys to carry the severed limbs. They set off toward a place where the groans of Dead Bodies were less frequent.

They had barely walked a few hundred meters when they saw a bus barreling toward them like a madman! The wide road gave them enough room to dodge; even as they scrambled to the ground, no one cared about the scratches left on their clothes.

After grumbling a few words, they glanced at the bus still hurtling forward and could vaguely make out the hellish scene inside... Japan was already densely populated, and especially at this time—the evening rush hour—it wasn't just the subways; even the buses were packed so tightly that not another person could fit!

So, things like bus gropers were never in short supply, but in this era of catastrophe, such a situation had caused irreparable tragedy... If even one person in that bus turned into a Dead Body...

Blondie felt a chill just thinking about the chain reaction that would follow. The population density in the carriage was exponentially higher than in the school. If the driver had been disturbed... he guessed that was exactly how the scene before them had come to pass.

The modern bus, though not a hybrid, was definitely more ferocious when it went on a rampage than the old clunkers at school. It was a pity the driver had already turned into a Dead Body; he must have been bitten before he could stop the bus and escape.

"Bang!—Screech—Bang!"

The series of sounds made Blondie and the others tremble with fear. The bus, moving at breakneck speed, slammed into a small car parked in the middle of the road. The massive kinetic energy flipped the rear of the car directly into the air. It skidded sideways along the ground, sparks flying from the constant friction, and its speed slowed...

Until it crashed before a tunnel, blocking the intersection firmly. The engine finally couldn't withstand such violent motion and caught fire, which then spread to the fuel tank... A series of flames rose one after another, and even the hissing of the Dead Bodies inside grew much weaker.

Dead Bodies engulfed in flames kept crawling out of the windows. Blondie and the others turned and ran. They were covered in fire, yet they were still alive even after being burned like that—it simply shattered their worldview... Although it had already shattered once that afternoon, they absolutely did not want to experience it again!

They had thought their stress tolerance had improved quite a bit, but seeing this scene... anyone who didn't run was a complete idiot!

Blondie panted heavily, having run several hundred meters with the unconscious Koichi Shidou on his back. Only when he could no longer hear the monsters' roars did he slow his pace and look back... The monsters wrapped in flames had, at some point, collapsed to the ground, motionless.

The group relaxed, identified their direction, and set off toward the hospital... but it would be better to find a place to stay nearby for now. If a monster suddenly popped out in the middle of the night and bit them... who would they even complain to? By then, they'd probably be attacked by their own companions!

Inside the school bus, ever since Kurumi returned, everyone looked at her differently... excluding, of course, the airheaded Shizuka Marikawa.

Takashi Komuro, Hirono Toda, and Saya Takagi clearly didn't dare to meet her eyes, while the gazes of Saeko Busujima and Rei Miyamoto held a hint of excitement.

The school bus continued to move forward. Suddenly, Shizuka Marikawa in the driver's seat said with some distress, "We're out of gas! Should we keep driving into the city?"

"Hm? Can we keep going for a bit longer?" Rei Miyamoto, sitting in the front, asked Shizuka Marikawa.

"I think so..." The airhead was uncertain... Looking at the red line on the fuel gauge, she really didn't know how much longer this old clunker could last... It wasn't even as easy to drive as her little Beetle.

"I remember there's a gas station ahead. If we can get there smoothly, it shouldn't be a problem."

"Teacher Marikawa, listen to Miyamoto. It's clearly not a good idea to abandon our transportation at a time like this," Kurumi said, looking up at the deepening sky.

"Okay!"

The roar of the school bus engine seemed exceptionally conspicuous in the quiet night. With the dim light, they could see everything happening on the streets clearly...

Glass had been smashed, shops had been looted, and patches of blood appeared from time to time on curtains and the cluttered ground, but... there wasn't a single person. Even the Dead Bodies were nowhere to be seen. The silence was terrifying.

"Either they died, or they ran away," Takashi Komuro's low voice echoed in the carriage.

"If they died, wouldn't they have turned into Dead Bodies?" Rei Miyamoto countered.

"Hehe, of course. The dead who turned into Dead Bodies chased the living, so they ran, because they eat people." Hearing Kurumi's explanation, Rei Miyamoto fell silent.

Although the fate of that guy Koichi Shidou did indeed make her feel vindicated, figuring out how to survive this catastrophe was what mattered most. She didn't want to end up like Hisashi, turning into a man-eating monster; just thinking about it made her feel a chill from the bottom of her heart... She still had to go find her mom and dad...

"Hm? Wait! Look at the intersection on the other side." Rei Miyamoto, who had been looking out the window the whole time, actually saw a police car—a perfectly intact police car!

The front half was visible, and the police lights were still flashing. Everyone in the bus felt a pleasant surprise. Encountering the police at a time like this was the best thing that could happen; at the very least, it guaranteed safety, didn't it?

The school bus stopped. Takashi Komuro joked, "No license, driving the wrong way—I'm afraid they're going to the station."

"We've fought so many battles with Dead Bodies, are we still afraid of a patrol car?"

"Of course not. Let's go, let's get out and take a look!" The happy tone in his voice made Kurumi feel bad about warning him...

Kurumi and Saeko Busujima sat in the carriage and didn't get off at all.

"Aren't you going to take a look?" Saeko Busujima asked, curious.

"Do you think there will be any living people?" Kurumi countered.

The two looked at each other and saw the amusement in each other's eyes. Even in a catastrophe, it wasn't easy to find someone who understood you like this.

In her seventeen years of life, Saeko Busujima had finally met the person she had hoped to meet. Although she was a girl, she would cherish her all the more.

Meanwhile, Takashi Komuro and the others, who had gotten off the bus, couldn't wait to reach the side of the road where the police car was. However, what met their eyes was...

A police car with its rear half completely destroyed, a large truck having slammed into it. The disproportionate bodies had caused it to be completely crushed and deformed. The door on the driver's side was hanging open, but the policeman who had died long ago would never come out again...

"Are you serious?" Takashi Komuro couldn't believe it. The people behind him fell silent, and their initial excitement was completely wiped away by this sight.

Seeing Rei Miyamoto walk toward the wrecked police car, Takashi Komuro warned her with concern, "Rei! The police car is still leaking fuel. It's dangerous to go over there now!"

Rei Miyamoto frowned, her gaze toward him unforgiving. "Takashi, you come over too! Let's see if there's anything we can use."

Takashi Komuro sighed helplessly and followed Rei Miyamoto over. They crouched by the broken door and kept searching for items. Saya Takagi, who had done some research on Dead Bodies, stood in front of the car observing the two long-dead patrolmen.

Their pupils were constricted and their complexions were gray-white, clearly showing a tendency toward becoming Dead Bodies. But judging by the blood on their heads... their skulls had likely been shattered by the impact, leading to their immediate death.

She nodded to herself while observing carefully, a sight that made her admirer Hirono Toda's scalp tingle...