49: Bastard (3)

"Mom!" - Rei exclaimed in surprise and excitement when she saw her mother rush to Cloud's aid - "This is perfect!"

Cloud raised an eyebrow at the sound of Rei's voice, who had revealed the identity of the leader of the group that was saving his ass.

"Then we can talk, now we have to wrap this up" - Kiriko said as she took a long breath.

Cloud nodded as he cut off the head of a zombie, only to let out a surprised cry as he saw his katana break in half - ". . ."

"Huh?" - Kiriko was surprised to see the boy's weapon break into two halves, though her expression changed again when she saw how the boy reloaded his gun and started firing as if nothing had happened. She began to wonder if it was normal for a boy to have better aim than her, though she quickly made the decision that it was better to stay out of this topic and concentrate on the huge problem at hand.

Yuriko let out a sharp cry of terror when she saw the result of the boy's weapon, though she let out a sigh of relief when she saw that nothing had changed, however, such a drastic change of expression, caused the soldiers to sense that there was something fishy.

"What are you waiting for?!" - Saya exclaimed as she frowned - "She's just relieved that my boyfriend is safe!"

The soldiers quickly turned their attention back to the battle as the pink-haired girl let out a snort of disdain, though inside she was relieved that her words had managed to fool the soldiers.

Yuriko gave her daughter a grateful look, after all, she had almost screwed up with her overreaction.

The sound of gunfire kept up as Cloud moved from side to side as if he was dancing among a sea of undead.

"Give me a second gun" - Cloud said as he looked at the cops, who unconsciously threw one of their guns at him.

"Why did you do that!" - Kiriko exclaimed as she looked at the person responsible.

"I'm sorry, it's just that his tone of voice..." - Replied the policeman with embarrassment.

Kiriko frowned slightly before nodding - "I'm sorry."

Rei's mother was about to say something else, when she saw Cloud's fighting style, change drastically. He was now blocking the corrosive monsters with his pistols while shooting at close range, as if he was doing a martial art with the pistols as weapons.

"Unbelievable..." - Kiriko muttered in surprise as she felt like nothing made sense.

* * * * *

"I told him to try this, but I didn't think he'd actually do it" - Saeko muttered as she continued slashing at each zombie in front of her - "Come on, Cloud!"

Rei smiled slightly, though that didn't mean she wasn't supporting her group as best she could.

"Keep going, there's only a few left!" - Yuriko exclaimed as she drew in a long breath.

"Ok!" - The soldiers exclaimed as they emptied their magazines.

* * * * *

"Shit!" - Cloud exclaimed as he felt the green blood come into contact with his hand, to the point where it began to burn like hell, though to his relief, the system didn't tell him that he had been infected.

Maybe, just, maybe, those things were now extremely toxic and corrosive in compensation for no longer turning people into zombies.

Cloud gritted his teeth and popped the zombie head with a single shot, only to notice how these had completely disappeared.

"Enemies neutralized!" - A soldier exclaimed as he ran over to the blond, who was more tired than hurt.

"Are you okay, Cloud?" - Saya asked as she checked his condition, only to let out a sigh of relief when she saw that outside of the burn mark on his hand, he didn't seem to be hurt.

"Saya, for now you better stay away from him because he might be infected" - Yuriko said with a serious face, though anyone who looked into her eyes, could tell that the woman was extremely worried about the young blond's well-being, though after receiving the message from the boy's gaze that seem to tell her that everything was fine, she nodded, though she kept her act together.

Saya frowned, though she nodded weakly when she noticed the serene look on her mother's face.

Rei quickly ran to her mother to ask her what had happened during her disappearance, as well as inquire about where her father was.

"We'll talk later, I have something more important right now, daughter" - Kiriko replied as she let out a sigh and looked straight at the purple-haired woman - "It's been quite a while since we last saw each other, Yuriko-san."

"Same here, Kiriko-san" - Yuriko smiled as she shook her head - "It's good to see that you're safe."

"Same here, in fact, I was very worried about your situation because we all heard the sound of your mansion explosion" - Kiriko replied as she frowned because she still remembered the sleepless nights she had when she thought she had lost her baby girl in the Takagi mansion explosion, after all, that Rei was together with Yuriko and the others, was the only thing she knew - "By the way, where is your husband?"

Yuriko was silent before letting out a heavy sigh - "Dead"

"Impossible, that man is tougher than a cockroach" - Kiriko said with a frown as she felt that the purple haired woman was teasing her, although she quickly understood that the Yakuza woman's words were true, after all, it was impossible to fake that level of pain - "I'm sorry, I didn't know"

"Don't worry, I can't let the pain keep affecting me, besides, I have something to keep fighting for" - Yuriko answered as she drew a long breath and looked at her daughter's friend's mother with a small smile over her delicate lips.

Kiriko nodded, thinking that that reason was her daughter, and she wasn't wrong, though now it wasn't the only reason Yuriko was fighting for, after all, she now had a new person filling the void left by her husband's abrupt death, a person who had gotten under her skin for over 5 years.

"Anyway, I guess you need something from us" - Yuriko said noticing the serious look on Rei's mother's face.

"Yes, we're in a huge trouble" - muttered Kiriko as she let out a heavy sigh - "The truth is that after meeting with my husband, there was an attack on the police station by a horde of zombies, the top brass of the police force decided to barricade themselves in the police station while a third of the police force moved out to try to contact the military and get supplies, but..."

"The police station fell?" - Yuriko asked with a frown.

"No, they are still fighting, the thing is that there are more and more zombies" - Kiriko replied with a frown - "We have an eye on the police station, so we can help in case the zombies manage to enter the place, back to the point, during this time when we managed to get supplies, my group of policemen discovered that on top of a nearby elementary school there were children asking for help, that's why we decided to help them..."

"I see, I guess your request has to do with us helping you to save those children" - Yuriko said while tilting her head to one side.

"No, the children are safe under our care, the issue is something else" - Kiriko answered with embarrassment because she still hated what she was about to say - "The thing is that after saving the children and taking control of the elementary school, my group managed to meet a small group of survivors, and we helped them, after all, the more we were, the more chances we had to survive, but..."

"You don't need to say anything else, I can deduce what comes next" - sighed Yuriko while shaking her head - "Those bastards kicked them out and took control of the school and its supplies."

"Exactly, during one of our expeditions to look for more survivors and supplies, they left all the children outside the school" - replied Kiriko with hatred.

"They did what?!" - Rei exclaimed in surprise, though this quickly turned to fury - "Those sons of bitches!"

"Daughter, language!" - Kiriko exclaimed with a scowl.

"Fuck language, those bastards don't deserve a shred of respect, not after sending a bunch of kids to die in the zombie-filled streets!" - Rei roared as she glared at her mother.

"I understand how you feel, but you don't need to insult them because they're not worth it" - said Kiriko as she let out a sigh - "Anyway, you're making me stray from the topic..."

"I'm sorry" - muttered Rei with slight embarrassment.

"You don't have to apologize because you took the words out of my mouth" - Yuriko replied with a frown - "What do you guys think?"

"That we have more than enough bullets to escort the children and civilians under Kiriko-san, and to give those sons of bitches a parting gift" - answered Cloud as the soldiers got ready for combat.