"Ahh~"
I instinctively wiped at the nonexistent drool. It was as if the glucose I'd just eaten had vanished in an instant, making me
unable to stop myself from looking at that bag of snacks again.
The next second... my thoughts started getting improper again... If this were a movie or an anime... someone would definitely
make a joke about "the apocalypse, served on the tip of your tongue..."
But I couldn't afford to let my guard down, because there were actually three Zombies in this room!!
I guessed they'd been hiding in here with these snacks back when they were human, but they still hadn't escaped their fate. My eyes
lingered longingly on the food in the corner.
I rubbed my stomach, stuck out my tongue, and licked my dry lips...
"Damn it, I'm doing this!"
As the saying goes, people will die for wealth, and birds for food!
Today! I was going to be a bird-man!!
Was that a weird thing to call myself?
As I let my mind wander, I took out my pistol... After all, I wasn't confident I could face three Zombies head-on!
At long range, I might miss, but at one or two meters, even an idiot couldn't miss, right?
I checked again to make sure the safety was off... It seemed that almost dying in that fight just now because I hadn't disengaged the safety had
left me with a bit of trauma...
I gripped the gun tightly and looked at the three Zombies, all far from the doorway, counting down in my head...
"3...2...1!!!"
I yanked the door open. The next second, all three Zombies turned to look at me. Their blood-red eyes, like a rabbit's, made me shudder all over, and
a chill rose from the depths of my heart!
But there was no time to hesitate. If I was going to do this, then I had to risk my life!
"Roar!!"
The three Zombies roared almost simultaneously. At the same time, I raised my gun, aimed at the nearest Zombie, and pulled the trigger!
"Bang!!!"
The shot rang out. A tremendous force hit my wrist; if I hadn't been prepared, it would've dislocated!
To my delight, I really did have a knack for this. At least when it came to firing a pistol, I'd managed to score a headshot on my first try... I guess that was thanks to all those years of
occasionally "firing my pistol"!
This wasn't the time to think about all that nonsense!
Just then, the other two Zombies charged at me. I dodged aside and slammed the door shut with a bang, bracing myself hard against it!
"Bang!" Another heavy thud. One of the Zombies had slammed straight into the door, nearly knocking me off my feet!
"Tsk! What strength!"
But before I could get used to the force, the other Zombie slammed into it too!
"Bang!!"
My foot slipped, and I nearly fell. I gritted my teeth and held the door shut, raising my pistol. Through the window,
I locked eyes with one of the Zombies. Its eyes were bloodshot, and its blood-red gaze was fixed on me!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
The two Zombies on the other side kept battering the door, letting out low growls as they did, but...
"Heh... Die!!"
I aimed at the eyes glaring at me and pulled the trigger!
"Bang!"
Another one down! That was much easier!
I holstered the pistol and took out the ten-centimeter fruit knife. After all, every bullet I fired was one less bullet left. It wasn't some kind of milky-white
liquid that would be back tomorrow after I used it all up tonight...
Ahem... My thoughts had wandered again.
I shifted position, staying alert as I watched the Zombie peering out through the broken window above. Then I moved to the side of the door, and at the same time, put my hand on
the lock.
The Zombie inside kept slamming into the door, over and over. It seemed to have practically no intelligence at all.
I listened to the Zombie's steady impacts, measuring the intervals in my head!
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
"Now!!!"
I gave a low shout and twisted the lock in my hand. At that very moment, the Zombie suddenly charged at the door, whose
lock had already been undone!
"Thud!!"
With no door to stop it, the Zombie kept charging blindly and burst through the doorway. At the same time, it twisted its head toward me at an almost
impossible 180-degree angle!
"Ahh!!"
That gaze, that relentless fixation, was terrifying!
But... I didn't have time to hesitate. If the Zombie regained its balance and lunged at me, its immense strength would be more than I could handle!
But right now... the Zombie had completely lost its balance and crashed headfirst into the opposite wall!
"Bang!!"
At the same time, I rushed over and straddled the Zombie's back. I'd already readied the fruit knife in my hand, and I stabbed down hard!
"Squelch!!"
The fruit knife sank in to the hilt. At the same time, the Zombie beneath me convulsed violently. The hallway fell quiet once more...
Looking at the monster beneath me, now completely still, I wiped away a bead of cold sweat. Taking risks like this wasn't in my nature, but
the temptation of food had forced me to take a chance...
Though, a few hot dogs hardly counted as a fortune. They were barely even snacks.
With a squelch, I pulled out the fruit knife and wiped the strange-colored blood off on the Zombie's body. I put the knife back at my waist, stood up, brushed
the dust from my clothes, and walked straight into the room to take the whole bag of snacks.
There was nothing to think about. I opened a pack of hot dogs right away and wolfed them down!
In an apocalypse like this, being able to eat hot dogs... I had to be pretty lucky, right?
As I ate something I'd long since grown tired of, I thought to myself.
A meal? Really, it was just two hot dogs. I had to save the rest of the food for later. I didn't want to starve to death.
I gathered up the rest of what I could carry. I opened the bag of chips, crushed them, and put them into the little women's shoulder bag.
I patted the stuffed little bag and nodded in satisfaction. After thinking it over, I took out my pistol and headed toward the end of the hallway, where the emergency
stairwell was.
But... when I reached the emergency stairwell, I still didn't feel at ease. I drew my fruit knife again, holding the knife in my left hand and the pistol in my right as I
gently pushed open that Iron Gate.
The "creeeak" echoed through the silent hallway. I had a knife in my left hand and a gun in my right; all I was missing was a grenade clenched between my teeth.
The hallway was so quiet that even the faintest sound was magnified endlessly. That made the sound of the door opening especially clear.
My nerves stayed taut. What came into view was a brightly lit staircase. The city hospital had good natural lighting. Although there were a few scattered bloodstains
and bits of debris in the stairwell, overall it was much cleaner than the corridor on this floor.
I stepped forward cautiously, resting the pistol on my left wrist. Those two shots just now had shown me how powerful a pistol was. Although
my strength had increased quite a bit, it was still better to make things easier for myself. Besides, this stance... looked pretty cool, didn't it?
I teased myself in my mind as I entered the stairwell. I didn't see anything, but being cautious, I checked behind the door too. I'd seen scenes like that in novels and movies all the time,
so I checked the doorway as well. When I found nothing, I finally let out a breath of relief and unconsciously loosened my waistband with my fingers...
"So tight..."
It wasn't that my waist was too tight. It was my butt that was too tight. Walking felt awkward, and the waist was too loose, hanging off me,
but luckily these were jeans. My hips could hold them up. Otherwise, wouldn't they have fallen right off?
I breathed a little easier and looked up and down. The stairwell was fairly spacious, with the stairs down on the left and up on the right.
There was nothing to hesitate about. I took a deep breath, focused my attention again, and headed down the stairs on the left.
The stairwell was quiet, and there were windows here too, letting in bright sunlight.
Having light around chased away a lot of the fear in my heart. Most of the time, people just scared themselves.
There was basically nothing in my way. Even when there was, it was only some bundles and bits of debris, but I hadn't let my guard down...
Before you continue