Veni, Vidi, Vici

"This should be all that's here."

After running away at a full pace away from that convenience store, I stumbled upon many houses on the block. Unsurprisingly, the ones I came to were either opened or the nearest window was broken.

Most of them were already empty. The owners might have managed to evacuate when the outbreak started. After I found one where the food stock was full, I settled inside so I could take a break.

Thinking about it now, I did feel like I was breaking in at people's houses. Although, the world going into shit has probably diminished such thoughts already.

There was also the matter of Clarisse and her brother.

"Haah... Not even a day has passed and I'm already at my lowest point."

Well, it's not necessarily the lowest point, but everything I've experienced up until now shouldn't have been experienced by a student.

If I didn't have any military training, I would've probably been dead the moment I stepped out of my apartment.

"That aside, this place is kinda bigger than I expected."

I only made a trip to the kitchen and settled there, however, when I walked out to the living room, I finally realized how big this house is. It's a two-story house, with the doors visible from the stairs.

While still on guard, I decided to check the rooms one by one.

"Holy-"

I was about to scream but fortunately, I was able to cover my mouth. I mean, who wouldn't? Opening the first door, what welcomed me was a rotting body, it seemed to be an old man lying on the bed.

And when I said rotting, I mean one where the flesh is almost black, flies are everywhere, and the smell? That shit was disgusting. Because of that, I simply closed the door and headed to the next room.

This one didn't have anything in it. It's more like an office or something.

"Oh?"

When I checked one of the drawers, my lips curved upwards. I hit the jackpot already. The drawer contained a pistol, which if I'm not mistaken, was a model of a Glock. There's also a box containing 9mm bullets.

The next drawer contained a waist holster and... a suppressor?

"A compact pistol and a suppressor? Damn, this is more than a jackpot."

While a suppressor wouldn't necessarily erase the sound of a firearm, it should reduce it enough that the undead on the next couple of streets won't hear it and swarm me.

Still, I should only use it when necessary. Putting aside the sound problem, the ammo is also not that many.

After that, I checked the remaining storage and the last room. I only managed to find a conveniently existing baseball bat and a leather jacket.

I lounged in the kitchen, eating the foods that can spoil and drinking some from the tap water. Then I also spread out the map that I found in the living room.

Now what should I do next? I could spend the night here but it's still afternoon. If I move now, I should be able to reach the next convenience store, or the supermarket in the east.

"Hmm? This place is..."

While I was planning on where to go, I realized something very important. Just a few streets from the convenience store was Claire's house! No, if I go the other way, then I should be able to reach her house earlier.

"Alright, let's go to her place. Although I'm not too worried about her, I still want to check, and if possible go together with her."

It might just be from my own perspective but I really do hope she's okay. Having decided on where to go from there, I quickly packed up my stuff and headed on my way.

The streets of the residential areas only had a few undead and I was able to kill them easily. If I'm not mistaken, all of those people should have evacuated somewhere.

The worst-case scenario is that they must have gotten stuck on some way to the next city or something. That would make traveling on the main road with a vehicle hard. Or perhaps the military has blocked the road so they weren't able to pass through.

Well, in the end, everything happened last night while I was dead asleep so I could only guess.

As I was running through the streets, the whirring sound of rotors assaulted my ears. Looking up, I saw a group of helicopters flying above.

No, that model... Isn't that a combat helicopter? Moreover, they're also flying very low.

They didn't stop or even turn, they only flew in a certain direction. What the hell is going on now? By movie standards, choppers like that appearing could only mean two things.

One is that the military has already established some kind of a regulated force in this apocalypse and two... They must already be executing some kind of operation. The only problem is whether it is against the living or the dead.

Moreover, it's all happening so fast. Well, I guess they already have an idea of the situation.

I haven't gotten the chance to check the internet or the news aside from the one this morning. Rather, I don't even know if they still work.

A couple of minutes later, I arrived at the convenience store before Claire's house.

"Arrghh!"

Again, no living people in sight. I've also managed to kill the few undead blocking the way inside. It was the same as the last, the state of the store seemed like people scavenged it hurriedly.

The staff room's door was open and there was no one inside. But I found another room. Judging by the shelves inside, and the obvious sign on the door, this is the stock room.

"Lucky~"

There were only canned foods and other packaged foods. Since I didn't have a bigger bag, I only managed to take a couple of them, as I also had to take the weight into consideration.

Afterward, I removed the sign and closed the door. I also destroyed the doorknob so that it would be harder to open. After all, if my trip to Claire's home were successful, I want to go back and take more things here.

It's already survival of the fittest, while there's a part of me that may feel bad for others, my life is always my priority. Perhaps that priority will change when I get some companions but for now, it's all for myself.

However, as I was about to leave the store, I heard several gunshots.

What an idiot- is what I thought at first but the fact there are only gunshots now should mean that the party of the living is getting overwhelmed.

Moreover, the sound wasn't too far. If I'm correct, it came from the north... Which is where Claire's house is.

I hastily packed up and exited through the backdoor. I took no chances and readied my suppressed pistol. Claire's house is only a few walks away.

Reaching her house, what I saw there struck me with joy and worry at the same time.

There was Claire and a couple of men in black suits. They were firing at a steadily approaching hoard, taking out the ones who were fast enough to quickly close distance.

One of the men who was the closest to me got jumped by an undead. The others weren't able to notice him as they were busy on their sides.

I aimed my gun and shot the undead's head clean, it's blood splattered on the man's face but professional as he was, he quickly turned to me on guard.

I waved at him with a smile, signaling that I was not an enemy. I continued to shoot at the other undead, landing headshots after headshots.

While I may not look like it, I have quite a thing or two when it comes to sharpshooting. However, due to obvious reasons, I could only use lighter guns like this proficiently. The fact that I didn't fire one for a few years didn't diminish my skills one bit.

It didn't take long for the others to notice me as Claire quickly flashed one of the most beautiful smiles that I've seen.

Another man tried to aim his rifle at me, thinking that I was an enemy, however, Claire stopped him and ordered them to continue taking out the undead.

I continued firing and reloaded using the only extra mag that I could find. After this, I would have to reload manually.

Fortunately, the approaching undead were taken out and the only ones remaining were the ones who were far away but were attracted by the sound. It would be a bit more challenging shooting at them with a handgun anyway.

"We shouldn't linger around here longer, come with me."

Claire quickly approached me and took my hand. She then dragged me inside the house with the men in black following us.

Claire's professionalism when it comes to military stuff, which you wouldn't see a lot back in school, impressed me quite a bit. However, it was quickly broken when we entered inside.

"Leon! Imissedyouu!"

She pounced on me for a hug and spoke in gibberish. Yep, it's Claire alright. As a response, I also hugged her back. Meanwhile, The men simply looked at us, although I could feel a stronger gaze from one of them.

"Now now, I'm also glad that you're alright. But for starters, let's talk about the important things in the meantime."

"What's more important than me missing you?"

"Probably, the world becoming like this and other kinds of shit happening?"

"Ahaha, you're right. Although, for me meeting you now was the most important."

I feel the same Claire, I feel the same. But I still feel restless. Even if we are currently in a house as big as this, with ourselves being armed and several other combatants, the chance of things getting out of hand is still there.

I've learned that the hard way, unfortunately.

"First, those things... The undead, as I call them, can also be unpredictable similar to normal humans, so I can't just sit here leisurely, or at least not at this point."

"So you call them undead? Well, that's kinda fitting. Alright, I'll call them that too."

"What do you call them before?"

"Zombies."

Of course, of course.

We then exchanged information regarding the undead while Claire was cuddling with me on the sofa, under the watchful gaze of the others.