How many zombies would come over?
Most importantly, because food was scarce, the mutated monsters wouldn't come here either.
Compared to outside, this place was practically a shelter.
I kept walking along the wall. The rest of the way was peaceful. I stayed close to the wall and walked all the way to the entrance,
where two zombies dressed in security guard uniforms
were wandering aimlessly.
After thinking it over, I decided two zombies weren't much of a problem. Maybe because I often entered "superhuman mode,"
my dynamic vision had improved somewhat,
and I could now see clearly even movements that had once seemed incredibly fast.
Looks like I have no choice but to take a risk...
Even though I could easily kill zombies, I tried not to provoke them. After all... once they got their teeth into me,
I might not be able to escape.
They weren't very strong individually, but the danger they posed when gathered together was why I didn't want to provoke them.
I glanced at the ground and picked up a pebble, then tossed it straight out of the bushes.
I was behind an ornamental tree. Its dense summer foliage concealed me,
giving me a chance to launch a sneak attack and reduce the danger
to a minimum.
"Clack..."
The pebble hit the ground with a faint yet strangely muffled sound. At once, the nearer of the two security guard zombies whipped its head around
and slowly walked over within my sight. Its blood-red eyes stared at the pebble on the ground as it stood there, dazed.
Now!!
I gave a sharp cry in my heart, drew the military knife from my chest, and sprang out of the bushes!
At the same time, the zombie seemed to notice the noise from the bushes. Its head turned more than ninety degrees
to look at me...
"Die!!"
I shouted, looking down at the zombie as I drove the military knife straight into its forehead. Half the blade sank
into its skull!
With a "thwack," the other security guard zombie seemed to notice what was happening. It suddenly let out a roar
and charged over.
Watching the zombie in the distance, I kicked the one still twitching to the ground, transferred the military knife to my left hand,
and with a "shing," drew the katana
from my waist. I brought it down on the charging zombie's head!!
"Graaargh!"
The zombie running toward me had its head split in two with one stroke. If I'd been the old me, the blade would surely have gotten stuck
in its skull. But now... with my increased strength, I could swing the katana faster, which was how I managed to split its head with one slash!
The instant I finished the strike, I instinctively stepped back twice. The zombie, carried by its momentum, fell right at my feet,
and black, yellow, and white slime nearly splattered across my shoes.
"Disgusting..."
I looked down at the still-twitching zombie, swung the katana to shake off the slime, and gave the military knife a shake too.
Then I wiped both blades on the two zombies' bodies. Once I'd gotten all the slime off, I stuck the katana into the grass nearby, pulled a wet wipe
from my pocket, and first wiped down the military knife before returning it to my chest.
Then I drew the katana again and wiped it down.
After all... the strange stench from these things' brain fluid was unbearable. Besides, these two weapons were what kept me alive,
so it was best to take good care of them.
After cleaning both blades, I looked around again. There were no zombies nearby, but three were charging over from the small park!
After hesitating, I took out the crossbow. I aimed its red-dot sight at the three zombies and took them all out, one after another.
Only then did I let out a long breath.
"Now... there shouldn't be any more, right?"
I'd already figured out that the sound of zombies could attract others of their kind. Those three zombies from the park noticing me here just now
was probably for the same reason.
"Next time... I'd better just use Big Black Eagle to deal with them."
Muttering to myself, I walked over to the three zombies. I covered my hand with a wet wipe, pulled out the three bolts, wiped them down,
and put them back in the quiver before turning toward the security booth.
But when I put my hand on the booth's doorknob, I suddenly realized it was locked.
I raised an eyebrow and hesitated, but then I went over to the security guard zombie's body. After finding the key on one of the corpses,
I drew the military knife with my right hand,
inserted the key with my left, and slowly turned it...
"Click... click... clack."
With a faint series of sounds, I opened the door a crack and quickly backed away two steps!
Nothing?
I waited about five or six seconds. There was no sound from inside the booth, so I walked over again, pressed myself against the side of the door, and used
the military knife to gently nudge the iron
"Creeeak~~"
With a metallic grinding sound, the booth's door slowly opened a little farther, but there was still no sound.
Was I... just being paranoid?
The booth's foundation alone was about two meters high. It was one of the pillars of a European-style gate, with a security booth hollowed out inside.
Staying close to the door, I nudged the Iron Gate again with my military knife, still somewhat on guard.
"Creeeeak~~"
But... there was still no sound from inside, only a foul, rotten smell... After waiting a while, I finally relaxed,
but I didn't put away my military knife. Instead, I cautiously peered inside.
It wasn't that I was being too careful... I'd made too many mistakes before. What's more, those two unusual mutated monsters had made me realize
that this apocalypse wasn't as simple as it seemed. Danger... could be lurking in the shadows.
The furnishings inside were simple. The first thing I saw was a television set at an angle. I was standing to the right of the door,
so the television was directly in my line of sight through the doorway.
On top of the television was a fan, the kind nailed to the wall.
Farther inside was an iron bed, a single bed. Right there at the head of it! A foot was sticking out!
A zombie? Lying down?
But I wasn't afraid of a zombie lying down, so I bravely tapped farther inside again. Sure enough...
there was indeed a pair of feet at the
head of the bed.
I gritted my teeth, crouched down, and slowly entered through the Iron Gate. On the iron bed lay a person... a zombie...
a corpse!
When I saw that the corpse's hand rested on its chest, and noticed the fruit knife stuck into its chest,
I finally confirmed that this person... had killed himself.
I shut the door behind me. After all... I didn't want a zombie rushing in from outside and knocking me down.
With a bang, the door closed. The rotten smell in the room grew stronger, and the man's body was crawling with black flies. I opened the window
and picked up a rag from the windowsill, then shook it fiercely at the flies.
"Bzzzzzz..."
As the flies buzzed around, the full outline of the corpse gradually came into view.
He wore suit trousers and a shirt. I couldn't tell how old he was because his face had already rotted away,
but judging by his clothes,
he must have been at least thirty.
He was a man. His right hand hung down by the window, while his left hand covered his chest. A fruit knife was embedded there to the hilt.
A small notebook beneath the man's right hand caught my attention.
There was dust on it, along with some dried blood. I picked it up and dusted it off,
then went over to the window and sat down. There was plenty of dust on the seat too, but this wasn't the time to be picky. This little notebook had me curious.
I opened the first page. What was written there... was a diary?
The earlier entries were all simple things, like the weather each day. I grew curious and quickly flipped through the pages.
When I reached the middle, I was suddenly delighted!
"Just as I thought!!"
I looked at the diary. The last date written in it was...
"August 11... The sky is overcast. I've been staying in this security booth for three days now. During these three days, I..."