Mattias woke up the next day to the violent sound of the wind. He got up and looked outside. The weather was getting worse by the day. There was no rain but he could see towards north, there was a downpour.
"Haah. It'll be hard today. Let's see…"
'I'll need gas for the car, a better weapon; preferably a rifle and medicine. I hope there's a place that these three are in close proximity to each other.'
He opened the map app on his phone and looked for potential places to go. Gas stations were not very close to his needs, excluding downtown. There were more chances there as well as more risks. Going too far out might mean not being able to return because of weather. But going downtown would mean taking on a higher risk and putting his life on danger. But he didn't have much of a choice as well because of the scarcity of gun shops.
"If so, the target is set."
He checked the equipment and put his bag and pipe like usual on his back and left the room. When he descended the stairs he saw the girl sleeping on a sofa away from all windows and the door. That sofa wasn't there yesterday so she must've pulled it herself. She wasn't awake so he had to wake her up. So he walked to her side and softly clapped her cheeks
"Oi. Wake up."
"M-mmhm."
She made a cute sound and turned her back to him. This bothered him a bit and this time, his claps carried a bit more force.
"Oi I said wake up."
"M-mm? Moooniii."
"Get up I'm leaving."
"Huh? Really!?"
"Yes. You are leaving as well so get your ass up."
Then without saying another thing he pulled sofa away from behind the door and exited. The girl, seemingly panicked, hurriedly chased after him and closed the door. Mattias was already walking towards the car without a care. He put his stuff behind the car and sat on the driver's seat. Girl was already on the other seat and was waiting for him. He sighed again and looked at her.
"What are you doing?"
"Hmm? Waiting for you to drive of course."
"Who said you could come with me?"
"I already told you yesterday. You're bringing me along with you."
"And who decided that!"
"Would you say no to this beauty?"
She winked at him and emphasized her breasts. Mattias just sighed helplessly. He didn't want to argue with her because he knew her kind; they would do everything to have their way. He started the car and she giggled sweetly, thinking she won. He would let her think whatever she wanted.
"I'm Kurumi!"
"I didn't ask."
They fastened their seatbelts and Mattias started driving. He drove for about 15 minutes. The streets were filled with zombies. Some were aimlessly walking around and some just standing and doing nothing. When they saw the car approaching some of them walked towards it but Mattias mercilessly ran over them. They saw not only zombies but a couple of survivors as well, looting from houses and grocery stores, fighting zombies, getting eaten by zombies.
"Oh my god…"
Kurumi was shocked when she saw all this. Mattias was already used to the idea of seeing people being food for zombies so he only drove. He was even expecting people fighting other people.
*bang*
"What… What is that sound?"
"Gunshots. Maybe JSDF is fighting the zombies. Well, what's left of them anyway, I'm expecting casualties on their side as well."
"I… see."
They kept driving without talking anymore. Mattias entered a back alley a minute or two away from the gun shop and drug store he planned to loot and parked the car there and got out. Kurumi also followed suit and got out but met with Mattias holding the bag to her.
"Umm… This is?"
"If you are going to follow me then be useful."
"You're going to make me, a beauty, carry a bag for you?"
"If you want to fight then that's fine by me."
He then held her the spear. She looked at it for a second and instantly picked the bag. He smiled and gave her the pipe as well. He then gripped the spear tightly and walked in front. He looked around the corner and started walking silently, avoiding the few zombies on the street. He walked along the wall while being extra silent. When he reached the corner he would look around it first and if there were zombies he would wait for the best opportunity.
One time he looked back to check on Kurumi and found her trying to wear a nice looking sneakers. He asked with his eyes and she replied quietly.
"You don't want me to be slow because of pain right?"
"Let's go."
He didn't say anything as she was right. They were approaching the gun shop, it was just around the corner and the coast looked clear as well. There were cars all around them as it was end of business day when it all happened so they had ample cover to go around and hide. It was just a matter of being quiet from here.
They approached the front of the gun shop and looked in from the window. As it was downtown Mattias expected less opportunities when it came to things like weapons and food. And his expectations were not betrayed unfortunately. The shop was already looted, not even a knife was remaining. They still entered, hoping to find something but even the cash machine was gone.
"Someone was over zealous when it came to money I suppose."
"So? Where are we going now?"
"There is a drug store 2 streets down that way. We'll need medicine if we want to have a chance to survive."
"Okay, lead the way."
They left the gun shop and silently made their way towards the drug store Mattias looked up early in the morning. They tried avoiding the zombies like they did before and numerous cars offered a good amount of cover indeed. There was even a truck that hit a shop and partially entered it. But its trailer offered eye level cover and its high tires offered a safe passage without entering the visual range of zombies.
They easily reached their target and it was the same situation with the gun shop. Some people already came in and took some things. Their harvest was better though as they could get some aspirins and some bandages and ointments for burns and cuts, even some band-aid.
"This is good right?"
"Mm. We were lucky this time. Let's go, we need to get some gas for the car. We can loot more drug stores if we come across on the way back."
"Hehe. You are talking with 'we' instead of 'I' for a while now."
"Well you are useful in carrying bags and stuff."
"You tsundere."
"Whatever. Let's go."
Slowly, they made their way towards the car. There were still some gunshots coming from afar, travelling with the wind. The streets were feeling empty, lifeless. To think one of the most crowded places on Earth would become like this, Mattias didn't know what to think.
After turning the corner for the back alley, he heard some faint talking and laughing. He cursed inside and stopped. There were people around the car, 4 from what he could see and they didn't look like kind fellows of your neighborhood. They had guns around their backs, hips and hands and were enjoying their find with quiet celebrations. These were the people who looted the gun shop it looked like.
He wanted to return and look for another car but one of them noticed them and laughed.
"Haha! Look who it is guys! People!"
"Haha! Look a beauty!"
"Oi brat, you have the car keys right. Hand'em over with everything you got. Then we may spare your life."
These guys looked like middle aged salarymen that got fed up with their boss' attitude and slipped to the darkside. They were holding their guns without proper gun control and they didn't seem like they cared. They walked and surrounded them. Kurumi, scared when she saw this, made her decision and smilingly walked towards them while talking.
"Aaah. What strong men you are. Help me get away from this monster!"
"Hehehe. Come here babydoll, I'll protect you. Hey brat! We don't have all day y'know."
Kurumi jumped to the arms of the closest men and flipped the bird to Mattias with a grin. He of course was furious but he had nothing he could do right now. He threw the spear to their feet and gave the car keys to them.
One of them, the one who caught the keys, unlocked the car and called the rest over. Two got in front and the rest, with Kurumi, got on the back. They started the engines and one of the men on the back yelled.
"Hey man! Hurry up! A horde is coming!"
"I got it!"
The car started and it almost ran over Mattias. He threw himself to the wall to avoid the car and when he saw the other side of the alley, he was terrified. A horde was really coming! He turned tail and started running. There were some fast ones among them, not the one like in the grocery store yesterday, these were running normal zombies. He heard loud laughing and saw the men on the back of the truck laughing loudly and fired a couple of shots to attract more zombies.
He was furious but had nothing to do. He could only run away from the horde. And that's what he did. He ran towards a nearby intersection. Maybe he could find a gap to run away. But his damn expectations were not betrayed again as there were four separate hordes coming from all around! Mattias was desperate and frightened. His eyes were welling up and he didn't know what to do. He was just a normal university student until 2 days ago!
He looked around and saw zombies slowly approaching.
"Oh fuck man! Fuck! I swear! If I live today…"
He then felt something different. When he looked around his vision got blurry so he wiped his eyes to no avail. He then took his glasses off and his vision got a lot better. He could discern the gaps between the zombies! He put them in his pocket and looked all four ways he could go. One had no gaps while one had a gap that closed a little afterwards. One had too many zombies and the only one left had a lot more room.
"The choice is obvious and I don't have time!"
He rushed without thinking much. The zombies looked at him and some swung their hands to get a hold of him but he could see their attacks easily and dodged them accordingly. He was like a martial artist in a horde of new disciples showing off his skills. He easily dodged every attack that aimed at him.
He didn't have any set destination so he ran randomly. He would leave his life to fate and just ran. He ran between streets and back alleys. He occasionally saw some very fast zombies, like the one in the grocery store yesterday but faster. They were attacking other zombies. He couldn't see them well because they were too fast but from what he could see, their teeth were sharper and their movements were a lot faster. Fast enough to put Hussein Bolt to shame. Fortunately they were only interested in zombies.
The horde behind him was slow fortunately so Mattias ditched it quite easily. After running for 10 minutes without stopping for a second he reached a flight of stairs. He was exhausted and was panting heavily. His eyes were aching and he was sweating a lot.
"One last push, come on!"
He didn't hear anything at the end of this flight of stairs and started climbing it, thinking it was safe.. He climbed a little over 30 stairs before reaching the entrance of a dojo. He saw a lot of gravestones around the yard of this dojo and saw a young man praying in front of one. Mattias cursed inwardly and turned around. But because he was so tired, he lost his balance.
'Ahh shit…'
*Thud*