Emergency Rations

It seemed the place we had woken up in was a hospital. We had already dealt with every zombie inside.

Once safety was secured, a safe-time counter appeared on the smartwatch. It looked like securing a location granted you that buffer. We would be fine for a while, but staying here forever was clearly impossible.

"Since none of you seem to know, I should mention this now," Rion said, glancing around at each of us. "This game is a little unusual. Even if you log out, your avatar stays in the game world."

"What does that mean? If zombies attack while we're logged out…?"

"You'll come back as a zombie," Rion answered Sora's question. Once turned, controlling the avatar became impossible. It would simply move according to its preset AI, trapped inside its own body like a prison.

"Is there any way to turn back into a human after becoming a zombie?"

"I know that! I found it in the records room earlier!" Inagika shouted.

"It says you'll develop a rash one hour after being bitten, lose your sanity after three hours, and become aggressive after ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠five. After twenty-four hours, the vaccine stops working!"

"So after twenty-four hours you can't play anymore?"

"I heard a little about that, sis. Apparently you can keep playing by creating a clone of yourself."

To summarize what Inagika and Rion said: logging out in this game was no simple matter. If you logged out somewhere unsafe, you might return as a zombie. Once turned, if twenty-four in-game hours passed, that body had to be abandoned. You could create a new body with cloning technology and continue, but that feature only unlocked later. If all four party members were wiped out before cloning became available, you could no longer play on this server.

"Survival itself seems to be the goal of this game."

When I checked the smartwatch, a survival-time counter appeared. This was probably the kind of game where people posted things like "[Normal] Hard Mode 1st Clear – Survived 1000 Hours lololol" in the gallery. In other words, it was an extremely difficult game. Insanely difficult.

"Then our first priority should be finding a place where it's safe to log out."

"If that's what you're looking for, the central control room would be perfect!" Inagika cried.

Why had she suddenly become so sharp? Had she eaten something weird? Finding clues and information might as well be left to Inagika. They say even dog poop has its uses in medicine—Inagika was proving far more useful than expected. I might even consider reducing her sentence as a prisoner of the ducal house.

Following Inagika's suggestion, we headed to the central control room. A massive map appeared on the computer screen.

The voice that had been speaking in my ear all this time was probably the AI managing the hospital. As for where Sz-001 was located…

It was right in the middle of the African continent. Naturally, our current location was Korea.

"Reaching Sz-001 is probably the final objective of this game, right?"

"Probably…"

"But how do we get to Africa? Are there any planes?"

"I don't know… Oh, and the scale of this game is the same as real Earth, sis."

"Hmm."

It was a post-apocalyptic world where civilization had collapsed. We might be able to find a car, but reaching Africa was far too distant. Without planes or ships, we would probably have to travel by car or on foot, inching toward Sz-001. That journey would likely take years of in-game time, during which we would constantly face crises from zombies wandering the streets. Once cloning technology unlocked, we could switch bodies repeatedly to reach the destination. One mistake leading to a total party wipe would force us to start over in a new world—almost from scratch, despite the roguelite elements. An absurdly difficult game.

"This game is something else…"

Sora muttered in disbelief.

Rion fiddled with the smartwatch. A hologram appeared before her eyes—she had downloaded the central control room map onto it. Several locations marked "Shelter" were highlighted in green, making it obvious where we needed to go.

"Do we really have to go outside…?" Sora asked in a frightened voice.

"There are so many zombies wandering around out there… Is this even possible…?"

"We have no choice. In fifty hours the basement zombies will wake up."

"I know that, but we only have one knife and one pistol… Isn't this way too dangerous?"

Sora asked. We had searched the hospital thoroughly just in case, but all we found were bandages, flashlights, and medicine. Weapons were limited to one knife and one pistol, and the pistol only had eight bullets. The shelter was far too distant to reach in a single day.

"Then let's do it this way. Rion, you take the gun."

I held the pistol out to Rion.

"…Why are you giving this to me?"

"Are you just going to stand there and let zombies approach? Of course, if you want to become a zombie I won't stop you."

"No, that's not what I meant… What am I supposed to do with it?"

"Let's go out for a bit, just the two of us."

"Are you insane, you damn cat."

Probably because we were on stream, Rion accidentally let slip some harsh words.

"Why me and you, sis?"

"We're going to bring back a car. Walking around like we're on a stroll with four people would be far too dangerous."

"Sis, can't you go alone…?"

"Who's going to drive the car?"

I tilted my head in confusion. Rion glanced at Inagika and Sora just in case.

"Ehh… Inagika is just a baby… I don't know how to drive… Uwaaah…"

"I'm a bard, remember? Bards wander from town to town on foot. Now that I think about it, I probably don't have a driver's license."

These idiots… They suddenly started doing unnecessary RP. Left with no choice, Rion—the head maid (and occasional personal chauffeur)—had to follow behind me.

"Then let's find a car that starts."

I said, skillfully spinning the knife in my hand. Anyone watching would think I was an assassin rather than a noble lady.

The plan was simple: loot car keys from the zombies we had killed in the hospital (Inagika and Sora would search the bodies while staying behind to guard the place). I would head to the hospital parking lot and cut down any visible zombies. While I drew aggro, Rion would find the car matching the key. If the door opened, she would try starting it. If it failed, she would try another car. If no matching key existed, I would loot fresh keys from newly killed zombies. If that still yielded nothing, we would expand the search beyond the hospital grounds.

"Please start… Please start……"

Rion prayed desperately as she turned the key.

Click.

Battery dead.

"Agh, seriously…!"

Rion slammed her fist against the steering wheel. Something suddenly slammed against the window.

"Uwooooor…"

"Eek?!"

A zombie was pounding on the glass. Rion quickly drew the pistol. What… what should I do…? Should I shoot…? But there were only eight bullets… And the window wasn't even broken yet, so was shooting the right move…? But if it broke through first… Shouldn't I shoot before that happened……?

Rion's hand gripping the gun trembled violently. Of course, while she hesitated, I reached out and hurled the zombie away.

"The aggro is stronger than expected."

I muttered, slightly annoyed. Another zombie approached from behind me. As if I had eyes on my back, I spun around and kicked its head clean off. Without sparing the fallen zombie a glance, I charged toward the next one. Dodging its dried-out wail, I drove the knife upward from ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠under its jaw and pushed it deeper, prying open its neck like a can lid before casually shoving the body aside. One zombie that had already been a corpse became a true corpse.

When more zombies began converging from multiple directions, I extended my hand toward the nearest one. Mixing in a feint, I made it swing at empty air, then grabbed its arm and swung it like a baseball bat, sending several zombies tumbling to the ground. I casually punched the one on my left in the face and drove my knife into the back of the neck of the one on my right. The rotting flesh offered little resistance.

"…Why are you so good at fighting?"

Rion muttered unconsciously.

The viewers' chat scrolled by, but none of it resolved Rion's unease or questions. Wasn't this strange…? My parents were ordinary office workers, yet I carried myself like a rich young lady and fought like a professional martial artist. Being good at games was understandable since I had always been skilled at Labyrinthos. But cutting down zombies with just a knife was beyond comprehension.

"We're done here. Come out."

Of course, just because something didn't make sense didn't mean the person involved would bother explaining it. After all, I was a villainess.

"Not coming out? If you keep wasting time the zombies will gather again. Is being surrounded by zombies your hobby? Should I start screaming to draw them here?"

"…Fine, I'll come out. You don't have to rush me. Haah…"

Rion stepped out of the car. Yeah. Even if I understood, what would change? Just as the stars needed no understanding to shine, Aurora's existence was simply something that existed. I decided to think of it that way for now.

"Let's grill some zombies."

I must have been mistaken. I couldn't just leave things I didn't understand as they were.

"…What did you just say?"

"I said we should cut up some zombies, chop them into pieces, and eat them."

"No, that's not what I'm asking… What???"

Rion asked again. Thirty minutes after somehow securing a working car and escaping, the ducal party had arrived in front of a neighborhood supermarket.

"All the fresh food has rotted, and even the canned goods aren't in good condition. If we continue like this, a food shortage is inevitable."

As I spoke, I shook my smartwatch. A "Hunger Gauge" was displayed on it—the kind of meter you'd expect in any survival game.

"No matter what, eating zombies… That's just wrong……"

"Oh my, Rion. It seems you have a misunderstanding."

I smiled sweetly.

"Being picky about cold rice or hot rice is only possible when you actually have rice. Right now we don't even have rice—we have nothing."

"That's true, but…"

"If you don't want to eat zombies, there's one last resort."

"Last resort?"

"Yes."

I nodded.

"One of us becomes the emergency rations. If you want to apply now, I'll accept. Decide quickly before I change my mind."

"……"

Rion fell silent.

Better to eat than be eaten. Rion had narrowly escaped death.