Protective Mother (II)...

"So, many dead, I wish that we could have helped them…" Aoba couldn't help but shake his head. Both Aoba and Tsukomo were silently moving through the 1st floor of the shopping complex. The ground floor was completely overflowing with Zombies, so the two of them concluded that there were no survivors on the ground floor.

"Don't lose hope. There is a chance that we might find a cure in the future. Then we would be able to save all of them…" Tsukomo tried to comfort his friend. "There is nothing we could do for them at this moment" Tsukomo added with a shake of his head.

"I don't think there are any survivors on this floor" Aoba said while shaking his head.

"Kenji, I think we should head back or that woman would complain about us to her son, then our esteemed Leader would get another opportunity to humiliate us…" Tsukomo pointed out but Aoba simply shook his head.

"Can we look for a bit more… We still need to check the 2nd floor and the 3rd floor. I am sure that there will be survivors on those floors. The shopping complex must have been filled with people when everything started, I refuse to believe that everyone was turned" Aoba said in a determined tone.

"There is something else, Yozora Kemono had to knock down the door to the 1st floor, and do you see any Zombies? There are bloodstains, but there are no Zombies. We haven't encountered even a single Zombie…" Aoba added as he gestured with his hands. Now, that Aoba pointed it out, Tsukomo also realized that they were yet to encounter even a single Zombie after they arrived on the 1st floor.

"You are right… Let's look for a bit more before returning" Tsukomo decided to agree with Aoba as he also wanted to help people, but he also understood the importance of their mission. If they didn't find anyone on the rest of the 1st floor, then he would somehow convince Aoba to return for now.

After looking for a few more minutes, all of a sudden the two of them froze as they heard some sort of noise from the other side of the wall. "What's that noise?" Tsukomo asked Aoba with a confused look on his face, it seemed that the noise was getting louder. Aoba tilted his head towards the wall so that he could clearly hear the noise.

"They sound like heavy footsteps" Aoba guessed with an unsure look on his face. That was his best guess. Now that the sound was getting louder with each passing moment, both of them decided to move away from the wall, but they weren't even able to take a step back before the wall exploded outward and a familiar person came out of the wall.

"What the… AHHGG!!" That was all Aoba was able to say before Kemono's foot smashed on his chest. Aoba broke through the railing and dropped to the ground floor, which was completely crawling with Zombies. Aoba didn't even have the time to fight back before all the Zombies were on top of him, slowly ripping him apart.

"You bitch!!" Tsukomo snarled in rage as he raised his gun so that he could gun down the woman who just killed his friend, but from Kemono's perspective… the man was moving in slow motion. Kemono simply grabbed the gun with her left hand and her right fist smashed on Tsukomo's face, breaking his jaw along with several of his teeth. Tsukomo felt like he was hit by a freight train, his whole mind went completely blank.

"You are slow… Too fucking slow" Kemono grinned as she snatched the gun from his hands with a strong yank. "Your friend is already dead, and since I am extremely generous, I am going to send you to meet him" Kemono grinned viciously as she dropped the gun and grabbed the man's throat with her right hand. Kemono lifted the man from the ground with close to no difficulties.

"W--why?" The man breathed out with a lot of difficulty, but a bit of hope flickered into his eyes when he noticed Kohta coming in their direction. So, he decided to try buying some time. He knew that Kemono was going to answer his question so that she could mock him. That is how she was.

"Maybe you shouldn't have planned to get rid of my son, behind my back, or maybe you shouldn't have disregarded my orders. Who knows… Now, don't worry, I will be sending those two bitches behind you if they don't become useful…" Kemono smiled softly and after hearing Kemono's words, rage flared inside Tsukomo Seiji's mind.

Tsukomo's hand shot towards his hip, he had a knife tucked into his belt. He pulled out the knife and swung it towards Kemono's throat, but Kemono easily grabbed his arm and twisted it. Tsukomo's arm broke like a twig and Tsukomo's whole body trembled due to the pain. Even though he wanted to scream, he couldn't as Kemono's grip around his neck tightened. Tsukomo's world started to turn black, he started to choke, and with his good hand, he grabbed Kemono's hand, trying to pry her fingers from his neck, but he simply wasn't strong enough.

Even though Tsukomo was at death's door, he had to stop himself from smiling when he saw that Kohta was standing right behind Kemono, he knew that Kohta was going to attack any moment now and he would be saved. Tsukomo kept waiting but the attack never came and a loud crack was heard, signifying that Kemono has snapped Tsukomo's neck. Just before Tsukomo closed his eyes for the final time, he realized that Kohta was along with Kemono from the start.

As soon as Tsukomo breathed his last, Kemono tossed the corpse aside like it was a thrash. "I didn't think that I will be able to remain calm after watching two people getting murdered…" Kohta gasped in horror and Kemono looked at Kohta with amusement in her eyes. "Am I a psychopath?" Kohta questioned aloud and this time, Kemono wasn't able to stop herself and she ended up laughing.

"No… I don't think it is anything like that. I think that you have simply adapted to the current world. It is a kill or be killed world… Just like my son had said yesterday, now that the society has collapsed, the rules of a jungle have come into play…" Kemono explained with a grin. "Right now, there is only one rule. Might is right!" Kemono added with a smile and Kohta felt like his eyes had been opened. He felt like he had been enlightened, which was truly ridiculous.

"…Um… Yozora-san, do you think we should clear the ground floor?" Kohta asked in a nervous tone and Kemono immediately looked down at the ground floor.

After thinking for a bit, Kemono decided to go to the ground floor even though the ground floor was crawling with Zombies. Most of the food courts along with some of the grocery stores were on the ground floor. She would also get to kill a lot of Zombies if she went to the ground floor. After all, she still needed to kill a lot to complete her job requirements.

"Yes, we will be going down to the ground floor. You stay here, you can gun them down from there, this is a good vantage point for you" Kemono explained. "You will be fine on your own, right?" Kemono asked even though she already knew the answer. Kohta gave her a determined nod. After getting the confirmation from Kohta, Kemono placed her hand over the railing and jumped over.

Flames erupted from Kemono's hands and feet and she landed with a loud explosion. Nearly 30 Zombies were engulfed by her flames. Kohta also didn't waste any more time and started to shoot down Zombies. This was a good chance to earn some free Status Points and Kohta didn't want to miss this chance. Meanwhile, Kemono was turning the Zombies into ashes while cackling in made glee…

~~With Daichi~~

"Man, I still can't believe that you killed all of them…" Anthony muttered with a look of disbelief etched on his face.

"They didn't drop dead on their own" Daichi pointed out from the side.

"I am fucking glad that Ant decided to join your group" Candice looked completely gobsmacked.

"No shit, Candice. If we stayed in the hotel then we would have been fucked" Dylan shook his head in despair. He might have killed Zombies when push came to shove, but it was pretty clear that he wasn't a fighter.

"I say joining them was the best decision since this shit started" Gisele muttered, looking really nervous.

"Yeah" Christine completely agreed with Gisele. She knew that she wasn't a fighter, but at the same time, she also wanted to live. For that, if she needed to sleep with the Leader of the group, she would happily agree with it and it was the same with Gisele too.

"I think, it will be a complete waste to leave them here… Though I wonder how the wolf meat is going to taste…" Matthew wondered out loud, making everyone freeze in shock…

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