Chapter 15: “Police station”

HAVE TWO CHAPTERS BECAUSE WE DIDN’T POST ANY YESTERDAY!

~ann@chan + rainchan

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By the time Yuusuke reached the apartment, dusk had already fallen.

I carried the bag of alcohol and snacks that I picked up at a shop on the way. Taking the elevator, I made my way over to Kurose’s room.

“I’m back.”

I was stricken by light as I entered. As I took off my shoes, I looked up, linking gazes with Kurose.

“Eh…?”

My eyes were directly fixed onto her, stiffening up.

Tick tock, tick tock, tick tock… after several long seconds, our eyes broke contact. I glanced over at the table, not moving an inch. There she sat obediently, both hands bound to the chair.

Yuusuke swiftly moved to the kitchen before letting out the breath he had been holding. His muscles relaxed.

“I’m freaked out…”

This was the first time Kurose had looked at him. At a close range, it was as if her eyes chased his. Other zombies hadn’t’ even looked at him directly. She clearly recognized him.

“…What the… If I call out to her, maybe I’d be able to bring her out of her vegetative state… Tokiko-chan… Tokiko-chan… Kurose-san…”

Kurose doesn’t react, piercing her gaze onto the table.

“…Ridiculous. Tokiko-chan, take the chair.”

Of course, there was no answer. I dragged a chair over to the porch and sat the bag of alcohol and snacks there. I took out a can of beer and pulled the tab, leaning against the handrail.

It was chilly outside, but it would only more and more colder from here on.

The darkness seemed to have covered any traces of the mayhem. It didn’t look much different from before the previous life. The streetlights softly lit the dark streets. No zombies could be seen.

Needless to say, it was still definitely different.

Only about 20% of houses provided light. The rest of the city was buried in darkness.

Said houses that gave off illumination could merely just be houses with their light switches left on. It’s difficult tell whether or not there would actually be survivors there. Although if I didn’t find any, then what? Do I once again become the food supplier? Nope. Not having it.

Just as he takes a sip from his beer, screeches of a car tires broke the night silence.

A car sped through the main street right before crashing into another. The collision and glass shattering could be clearly heard.

Zombies began to gather around the accident, springing out of the darkness. Despite the family’s effort to struggle out of their seat belts, they had already been completely surrounded. A man and a woman, who I assume are the parents, were dragged out from the door. The daughter, who looked to be the same age as Mizuki, had her arm bitten off as she was thrown and dragged on the ground. More zombies crowded the area.

I heard distant screams before it was back to silence.

“……….”

Yuusuke silently felt for the bag. He pulled out some jerky and took a bite.

The next morning, I prepared some equipment like usual before heading to a police station that I found on a map. I needed some handcuffs for Kurose, as well as some weapons. It was nearby Nanba Elementary school, which I had visited earlier on.

The police station was a plain grey building, standing at 3 stories high. Several police cars were parked in the lot. The entrance had a barricade, but it was half broken.

There might be the person who escaped from the school here. Although, judging by the entrance, who knows if he’s still here.

“The police station should be a pretty common place…”

The place was quite similar to a city hall. There were signs for a local section and the police affairs section. In addition, there were also counters and a lobby for waiting with chairs formed in a straight line. No zombies were in sight as well.

I had a more exaggerated image of the police station, so I was kind of let down.

The citizens correspondence was on the first floor. I tried to look for a back office, but I couldn’t find one. Upon giving up, I made my way to the second floor.

On the second floor, the first thing I’m met with is a detective section. There was a cell in a secluded area. The annex was a room for interviews.

“Man, I imagined the cell to be in the basement.”

The door wasn’t locked. Out of curiosity, I peeked inside. There were 4 tatami mats formed in a line on one side of the room. Folded bedding was placed in the corner. Although most of the room was unoccupied, there was one person.

“Ew…”

There was a corpse of a man with a pierced head lying again 3 iron-bars that had fall down. Splattered blood and fluid from his brain stained one of the tatami mats. It had already dried and turned black.

It’s… not a man… Did you become a zombie on the inside?

There were 2 of 3 people who had taken a bite from the arm and foot. One person probably developed the symptoms and the others got infected.

Idiot should have had a weapon…

Even if a police officer shot it to death, there’s no being sure that it would actually be dead.

But I can’t have these zombies dead. Zombies were my human detector and a tool of defense. Although zombies wont harm be, there’s still a possibility of a human being attacking me.
I was ready to negotiate with food if I ever saw a person. If they were a pervert, then I would do it more leisurely.

Is there someone else…?

After hearing a noise from the stairway, I hesitated. I hid myself behind a door and observed.

From the top of the stairs, someone could be heard. The footsteps were irregular. A policewoman appeared with a uniform drenched in blood, swinging side to side.

“Is that a zombie…?”

Yuusuke sighed in relief. From a far distance, it was tough distinguishing a someone as human or zombie.

Yuusuke cautiously headed to the third floor.

–Chapter 15 End–