The Convenience Store

"Hnh—!"

The bat cracked against bone.

"Ghaaagh—!"

I'd timed the swing to the woman from next door as she charged, and the bat took her square in the head. She lifted clean off her feet, sailed sideways over the corridor wall, and dropped out of the building.

A pleasant chime followed, and the points ticking in were all the confirmation I needed that the zombie was down.

"One Shot One Hit. Better than I thought."

Putting her down taught me the skill was more useful than I'd given it credit for. It let me swing at the exact instant a zombie closed in, and even from a single use I could feel the difference—the damage she took was well beyond the strength I'd actually put behind the bat.

With the woman next door handled, I headed for the stairs.

"There's nobody there, right?"

I set my ear to the fire door, shut tight, and only once I was sure there wasn't a soul on the other side did I ease it open. The hinges creaked. Past the door, just as I'd expected, the landing was empty.

"All right. Down we go."

I held my breath and started down, making as little noise as I could manage.

"Lucky I live in a low-rise. I only have to get down from the third floor."

The building was a five-story walk-up, and my unit sat on the third. That was the whole of it.

I was still muttering when I dropped a floor, and their voices drifted up from below.

"Graaaah."

"Grrrr."

I killed my own sound and leaned out to get a count.

"Glurk. Glurk."

"Ah, goddamn it."

One look down, and the curse came out of me on its own.

A woman who looked to be in her twenties was dead, and they were tearing her apart to eat. Her lower half was already gone—devoured, from the look of it—and guts were spilling down into the space it had left while the zombies gorged on them with mindless hunger. It was vile enough that my stomach turned.

"Tsk. Still, there's only two. I can handle that."

I clicked my tongue at the brutality, but two zombies were a number I could live with, and a little confidence settled in with it. I crept closer without a sound, toward the pair with their faces buried in her body, feeding like they had nothing else in the world to do.

I swung first for the nearer one's head. The bat connected with a clean crack, and the skull that had been shoved into the corpse split open, brain matter scattering loose.

"Graaaahk!"

"Kieeeek!"

Only after its partner's head burst did the other one, still eating right beside it, notice me. It shrieked and charged. I brought the bat down the same way I had on its companion. The head caved, the shriek cut off, and it went quiet.

Both skulls broke under the bat, and the notice that the zombies were down rose in front of me.

"Good. Keep going down, then."

I checked the message with a satisfied grin and was just about to head lower when a prickle ran through me.

"Kaaaah!"

It stabbed at my left ankle. Uneasy, I yanked my foot forward—and the woman I'd been sure was dead, her lower half eaten away, had turned. She hurled herself at my ankle, jaws open for the bite.

"What the fuck?!"

Her teeth snapped shut on empty air.

"Shit, that scared me! Die, you bastard!"

I'd gotten my foot clear in time, so all she caught was a mouthful of nothing. I brought the bat down hard and finished her.

"Fuck. I almost died."

Only after she was down did I let the breath out.

"So this is the Sixth Sense? Guess it just saved my life."

That prickling answer ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to danger—I understood now that it was the effect of the Sixth Sense I'd pulled from the gacha.

"No getting careless. I need to keep my head on."

The points had me riding high. I used the close call to stamp that down, and decided I'd take the rest of the descent with more care.

"Oh. Come to think of it, that's all five."

Realizing I'd already hit the number the daily quest wanted, I opened the window.

"Right. It all adds up."

I looked over the cleared window and felt satisfied.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"All right. Time to move."

The daily quest was done, but the job I'd set for today was bringing back supplies, so I got my feet under me and went.

"Guess the ones I already handled were all the stairs had."

I made it to the first floor like that, and I didn't meet another zombie.

"Convenience store first, then."

I left the building to strip the store sitting right out front.

"Avoid them as much as I can."

Zombies bursting out of an alley without warning. Numbers that could keep coming from God knew where. I had no idea what might go wrong, so I decided I'd give up the points if I had to and steer clear of them on the way.

I tightened my grip on the bat and slowly opened the apartment's front door. True to a small building put up where people were already scarce, the street outside was quiet—but the tension of not knowing when a zombie might show hung over all of it.

"Hoo. All right. Let's go."

The store was close, just one alley over, so I started down it at an easy pace. Once I was in, a broken streetlight and a trash bin cut across my view now and then, but I kept moving and watched everything around me.

"Grrrrr!"

It wasn't a long stretch, but zombies were roaming the alley all the same. I flattened myself to the wall, hid, and waited until they passed.

A crack. A thin shriek.

"Kyeeek!"

Of course, when one of them planted itself where I had no way around, I closed in quietly, made sure nothing else was nearby, and put it down without a sound.

One careful step at a time, the convenience store finally came into view. I checked the inside through the glass.

"About three in there."

In the darkened ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠shop, three zombies shuffled in slow circles. For me, that was good news. If nobody had cleared them yet, the food should still be on the shelves.

I banged on the glass.

"Come on out and greet the customer, you zombies."

I'd already made sure nothing was lurking around the store. Rather than step into that cramped interior and fight where I had no room, I made noise from outside the door and called them to me.

"Graaaah!"

They answered the sound and came running for the door. I locked both hands on the bat and waited, and the moment they shoved through I swung, aiming for nothing but the head. A clean crack, a dying howl, and the first one dropped. The second burst out right behind it, fast. I brought the bat around again and put that one down too.

"Greeeeh!"

The last followed without a gap between them. I steadied my breathing and swung once more, exact. A heavy thud, and it went down with the others.

"Home run."

With every one of them on the floor, I tossed out a joke nobody was around to hear and stepped inside.

The pleasant little chime of points coming in was a bonus.

"All right. What do I grab first?"

The store was mine. I hummed under my breath and started hunting for anything that could pass as food.

"Hmm. Lunch boxes and gimbap are out. Those don't keep."

I had no idea when the power would cut, but once it did the refrigerators were finished with it, and hauling off short-dated lunch boxes and gimbap would only mean carrying trash.

"Yeah. In an emergency, it's ramen and canned food."

I packed the bag with things that would last—ramen, cans—and kept humming while I did it.

"Pepper tuna. Now this is the good stuff."

I was ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠nodding along, tucking away the cans I actually liked, when the flashlights and batteries stacked in one corner caught my eye.

"Hmm. I'll be wanting these too, won't I?"

Electricity was already a precious thing. I decided I needed them, opened the bag, and packed those as well.

"Let's see. Fifteen packs of ramen, five cans, two flashlights, ten batteries."

Once the bag was full enough, I looked it over and counted the day's take.

"Today's not the only day I've got, and if I load up too much I'll be slow on my feet. This ought to do it."

I counted the items off on my fingers and nodded. If the pack got too heavy, running into zombies on the way home would turn ugly, so I kept it to a sensible amount.

Decision made, I meant to leave the convenience store and head back to the apartment.

Something clattered.

Which would have been the end of it, if I hadn't just caught a presence in the drink storage behind the refrigerators.