Chapter 115: Rescue
Chapter 115: Rescue
#
"Fuck... Just you wait."
I decided to deal with the zombies however I could and kept whittling down their numbers.
But this time, I had no choice but to retreat after spouting a bargain-bin villain line.
The bastards had started changing tactics in response to my ongoing guerrilla attacks.
The leader of the zombie forces was still shrouded in mystery.
It seemed the son of a bitch had figured out that ordinary zombies didn't count for much.
'Just how smart is this thing.'
It had dispersed the zombie horde it had gathered and begun deploying Mutated Zombies in force.
The ordinary zombies spread out wide and began hiding inside buildings.
Whenever I hunted the hidden zombies down as if we were playing hide-and-seek and started crushing them, a squad of Mutated Zombies soon appeared.
At least ten Mutated Zombies, each far stronger than an Ordinary Zombie, would show up at once.
'At this rate my baseball bat's gonna give out first...'
The Mutated Zombies that appeared did everything they could to protect their heads.
They tried to sacrifice an arm or shoulder to grab hold of me and drag me down.
This was what mattered.
They weren't blindly trying to bite me. They were reaching out with a clear intention to capture me.
One-shot kills were no longer possible.
If the fight dragged on, other types of Mutated Zombies joined the battlefield one by one.
'Where the hell do I run? Or should I just head out and look for Kiddo?'
There was a limit to how long I could keep fleeing by vaulting walls and weaving between buildings.
The ordinary zombies spread everywhere became their eyes and ears, constantly tracking my position.
I'd laughed off the idea that they could cast a dragnet around me, but now I truly felt mired in a sticky swamp.
'Antenna zombies. If I could just find them...'
The Antenna Zombies were the key to the Mutated Zombie Leader's strategy.
If I could just pinpoint and take out the thoroughly hidden antenna zombies, their surveillance network would collapse.
'Or if I had a proper weapon... instead of this shitty aluminum bat.'
Engaging them directly at close range was far too risky.
I felt I could wipe out groups of Mutated Zombies as long as my weapon held up, but I still hadn't found anything suitable.
"Shit... Ptuh. Fine, let's do this. Bring it on!"
On my way to the house with the white cloth, I vaulted a wall without thinking.
Beyond that wall, a pack of Mutated Zombies was waiting.
'The road was widest on this side, so it had felt the most dangerous...'
Graaaaaagh
The Mutated Zombies waiting in the middle of the road charged at me.
I put my back to the wall and got ready to face them.
I was getting sick of always running anyway.
I'd been babying my baseball bat, but I couldn't take it anymore.
'Don't swing it. Let's try thrusting as fast as I can.'
I aimed my baseball bat at the gaping maw of a Mutated Zombie and thrust.
A flinch.
The Mutated Zombie reacted by twitching its head slightly to the side.
Realizing that wouldn't work, I raised my leg and drove a hard push kick into its stomach.
Thwack—crash-bang-bang
The one that took the kick went flying and collapsed in a tangle with the zombie behind it.
I immediately dropped low and swept the ankle of a zombie approaching from the side.
I sprang back up, crushed the fallen zombie's skull to finish it off, and moved on to the next target.
'Yeah, if I keep this up...'
Boom—craaash
A powerful impact hit me from behind and I was launched forward.
Right into the middle of the Mutated Zombie pack.
Whoosh—whoosh—thwack
"You motherfucker!"
This was no time to preserve the durability of my baseball bat.
I swung hard enough to break bone whenever they blocked, knocking the Mutated Zombies flat.
I was surrounded, but once I unleashed my full strength and went wild, they couldn't close in easily either.
Graaaaagh
The Mutated Zombies continued forming a wall around me.
Behind them, the Brute Zombie that had smashed through the wall and sent me flying was closing in.
'Brute zombies, one, two, three... Hm?'
A creature stood lightly perched atop one of the brute zombies.
Covered head to toe in glossy black fur...
"A cat?"
No matter how I looked at it, it was shaped like a cat.
The Black Cat Monster I'd seen before sank its teeth into the brute zombie.
After it bit the back of the Brute Zombie's neck several times, the hulking creature collapsed within seconds.
"Kyahaap. Keuhwaaahng!"
The creature let out a lion-like roar and sprang at the Mutated Zombies.
One swipe of the Black Cat Monster's front paw, and a zombie's head went flying into the sky.
The black cat slaughtered the Mutated Zombies at terrifying speed.
The remaining Mutated Zombies charged toward me as though fleeing for their lives.
"You're not getting past me!"
Seeing that the zombies seemed frightened, I planted myself in the middle of the road and shouted to intimidate them further.
#
"Mya~ Myaa! Myaong."
"..."
After the fight, the Black Cat Monster made sounds I couldn't understand.
The cat had wiped out most of the assembled Mutated Zombies.
"Myaong. Myaaong."
"Uh... Thanks, cat."
Its help had been huge.
It showed no hostility toward me, so I expressed my gratitude even though I didn't know if it could understand.
"Myaang!"
At that, it gave a short, irritated yowl and darted away.
Its running speed seemed even faster than mine.
Crash-bang-bang
"Kyak. Kyaaak."
A commotion erupted from the direction where the cat had vanished.
I wondered what had happened, but the noise died down almost immediately, so I moved on as well.
I planned to get to Kiddo before the zombies could form another encirclement.
Clunk
'Huh? This house's front gate doesn't make any noise.'
It was a spacious detached house with an orange roof.
The lot looked at least twice as wide as the houses around it.
Though old, it was a well-maintained and attractive house with a large yard and even a wooden porch.
"Kiddo. You in here? Mister's back."
Sliiide
The floor-to-ceiling glass door leading into the living room slid open, and Kiddo stepped outside.
They were still wearing the raincoat pulled all the way down over their head.
I couldn't check their condition thanks to that, but from the way they walked, they seemed okay.
"Yo~ You eat?"
Step, step
Kiddo approached me.
They didn't keep their distance, stopping only a single step away.
Swish—pat pat pat
A small hand emerged from inside the raincoat and tapped around my chest.
The gesture was weak and carried no force.
Still, something in my chest ached.
'There was... Something about this.'
Pat pat pat
Kiddo still said nothing.
Each tap felt like a reproach.
Grrrowl
Then a faint sound came from the kid's stomach.
"Should we eat?"
Nod nod
That brought our brief reunion to an end.
Leaving Kiddo standing there awkwardly, I took off my backpack and got the meal ready.
Not that 'getting it ready' involved much more than opening the combat rations and waiting for them to heat up.
Once I shut my mouth, silence settled between us as we sat side by side on the wooden porch.
'But wait, were we that close?'
The thought briefly crossed my mind, but in a world like this, sharing meals for three days probably meant we weren't mere acquaintances.
People who share meals are called family, after all.
Seeing them again today made it feel as though the last wall between us had finally crumbled.
"Eat up."
Nod
"And what about the meal fee? Nothing for me today?"
"..."
"Heh-heh. Just kidding. C'mon, let's eat."
I couldn't see their face or expression at all, yet I could have sworn the kid was glaring at me.
'Anyway, what kind of raincoat is that? I can't see a thing inside it.'
At my suggestion that we eat, Kiddo turned their back to me and sat down.
I thought I'd finally get a look at their face.
Did they have some kind of trauma about showing their face?
#
"Smoke break?"
Shake shake
"No cigarettes? I'll give you one of mine."
The sun had set while we ate dinner.
When I suggested we smoke together, the kid darted straight inside.
Well, from their perspective, smoking face-to-face with an older man probably would have been uncomfortable.
After finishing my cigarette, I went into the spacious house. The kid had lit a candle and was sitting in the living room.
A black baseball bat next to Kiddo caught my eye.
The kid pointed at it.
"Huh? What's this? Is it for me?"
Nod nod
I picked it up. It had a solid, heavy feel.
"This isn't a regulation baseball bat, is it?"
Nod nod
It was probably one of those self-defense baseball bats.
The size, the weight, the material—all of it was outside regulation specs.
"Wow, thank you. I'll put it to good use. This one shouldn't bend when I bash in zombie skulls."
I showed Kiddo the blood-crusted aluminum bat.
My bat had been through heavy fighting and was dented all over, its entire shape warped.
"Huh? You want this one?"
Nod nod
"Are you a toad or something?"
"..."
"No, it's just that you're giving me a new one and taking the old one... Don't kids these days know the rhyme, 'Toad, toad, I'll give you my old house, so give me a new one'?"
Shake shake
They didn't know the toad nursery rhyme.
Had they never once played in the dirt at a playground as a child?
"Alright... So, should we go to bed?"
Nod nod
"Let's get up early tomorrow and slip out of here."
Nod nod
"Okay, off to bed."
Bow
Kiddo stood up and bowed at the waist.
It seemed to be a good-night bow, but I intended for us to share a room tonight.
The zombies had started entering the insides of houses, after all.
Swish swish
"No. We're sleeping in the same room tonight. A zombie might get inside."
Shake shake
"I won't look at your face, so hurry up and go in."
I followed Kiddo toward the room they had chosen, but they blocked the doorway.
Had I been the only one who thought the wall between us had come down?
"Oh, come on. What's the problem? I'm telling you, it's dangerous. Sharing a room is safer."
Punch punch
"Hey! You don't hit your elders. Want me to teach you a lesson?"
Punch punch punch
Kiddo punched my arm repeatedly, refusing flat-out.
It wasn't as though the kid had no grasp of the situation.
I'd already told them all about what the zombies were like over dinner.
"Why are you so stubborn? Didn't you decide I was safe earlier? I explained everything to you just a little while ago."
Unlike when we reunited that evening, this time they put real force behind the blows to my arm.
I felt a little hurt by that attitude.
"What's wrong? You had no problem sitting right next to me while we ate a minute ago."
Shake shake
"Sigh... Fine. Suit yourself. And after I came all the way back because I was worried about you..."
In the end, Kiddo shoved me out, and I returned to the living room.
I'd thought they'd tolerate a little discomfort given the circumstances.
A little disappointed in Kiddo, whom I'd thought so admirable, I lit another cigarette.
"Ugh. Even in the middle of all this, I reek."
I came into the room on the opposite side of the house from the kid's and flopped down on my back.
The stench of my unwashed body wafted up strongly.
It was hard to take, even though it was my own stink.
And so, surrounded by cigarette smoke and sour body odor, I fell asleep.