17: Encounter

An hour had passed since the group had left the house of Rika Minami, Shizuka's friend, time in which they had been crossing the river with utmost care, after all, they were going at maximum capacity in terms of passengers, to the point that everyone was cramped and struggling to squeeze in properly.

"This area looks peaceful" - Kohta said as he used the sight of his weapon to be able to investigate the area - "Sector clear."

Cloud got out of the humby with difficulty, and walked up towards the street to check the area - "You're right, this area is clean, so we can take a break before we continue."

"Aren't we going to do that right away?" - Ken asked as he pulled the modified motorcycle out of the back of the humby and put it next to the vehicle.

"No, if it's that the military is nearby, then they're going to be more vigilant during the night, and that could be lethal for us, more if we take into account that we have military weaponry under our control" - Saya answered while frowning - "Leaving that aside, it's worrying that our biggest danger is not the zombies, but the military..."

Saeko didn't answer, she simply started to bring down some things, among them two tents, one for the guys and one for them.

Cloud continued to watch silently as he instructed Kohta to set the alarms in the vicinity.

* * * * *

The night passed calmly, as if they had been camping in a safe place.

The group quickly put things inside the humby and began to roam the empty streets of the city, though there was something that was bothering them.

"This place is much quieter than the other half" - said Kohta with a frown - "It's strangely unnatural."

"I feel the same" - Cloud replied as he looked around from his bike.

"We'd better get this over with quickly if we don't want things to get complicated" - added Saeko, who was sitting behind the blond on his bike after a heated argument.

"You have a point" - mused Cloud as he looked at Shizuka, who was the one driving the humby - "I'm going to go ahead and check the area."

"Ok" - nodded Shizuka with a smile, though she had to admit she was jealous of the purple-haired girl.

Cloud moved forward not caring about making noise, after all, he couldn't waste time when human lives were at risk.

"How much longer?" - Saeko asked as she looked at the huge sword that was accommodated on the side of the bike.

"Not much" - answered Cloud as he slowed down the motorcycle - "We're here".

"Is it here?" - Saeko asked with slight curiosity, though she quickly frowned because she sensed a strong smell of blood - "Cloud..."

"I know" - Cloud replied as he frowned just like his companion.

The two young men quickly got ready and grabbed their respective weapons to defend themselves in case of emergency.

Cloud made a signal and Saeko ran down a nearby alley, while he entered through the door with his broadsword in hand, although after thinking about it a little more, he decided that it was better to leave it behind because in this narrow place, this type of weapon would only get in the way.

After making sure his broadsword was in a safe place, the blond entered the Komuro home with his gun in hand, only to frown when he felt the scent of blood getting stronger and stronger, and what was worse, the sound of someone chewing.

Cloud didn't want to think the worst, but the odds of his friend's mother being alive, were getting lower and lower, though there was still hope.

The blond continued to move forward slowly and without putting in any noise, after all, he didn't know how many of those things were inside the Komuro dwelling.

"Now I regret that I couldn't get a normal katana" - Cloud thought while shaking his head - "No, I'll solve this problem later".

The blond arrived after a few seconds at the entrance of the family's living room, a place where the smell of blood was concentrated, as well as the sound of someone chewing.

Cloud peeked out carefully, only to let out a sigh of relief when he saw the duo.

The first was the victimizer, a bald middle-aged man, and the second was the victim, a man in his mid-twenties who had his pants down.

Cloud frowned when he saw this because it was an extremely bizarre scene, however after some thought, he connected the dots, more so when he saw how the victim's corpse had what appeared to be a gun wound in his leg.

"It's possible that this man entered Takashi's home to get supplies and ran into Kaede-san, then in his lust he tried to attack her, that would explain his pants down" - Cloud thought as he frowned -

"As for the gunshot wound... Maybe Kiriko-san was present or came looking for her, after all, she's the only one of the neighbors who has a gun, in other words, this guy was an idiot and very unlucky one"

Cloud shook his head when he thought of this, so he slowly walked to the zombie without it noticing him.

When he was a safe distance away, he pulled out the gun and pointed it directly at the monster's head, only to pull the trigger without much trouble.

The monster fell to the ground as Cloud began to carefully investigate the home for clues about his friend's mother.

The blond walked through the entire house, until he reached what seemed to be the attic, though there was something strange, and that was that he could hear something upstairs.

"Is anyone up there, by any chance?" - Cloud muttered with a frown, only to walk towards the place and see how the string that opened the door, was slightly raised - "It's as if someone had raised it a little to prevent any of those things could open the attic, which means that the probability that someone is up there is extremely high, now the question is... Who is the person locked in the attic?"

Cloud pondered a bit, though after thinking about it some more, he decided to open the place, after all, it wasn't like he could leave this person locked up here now that he was literally right next to him.

"Kya!" - exclaimed a female voice just as the blond opened the compartment.

Unconsciously, Cloud reached out his arms and caught the woman, though it caused him to grit his teeth in pain.

"Huh? You're not Kiriko" - the beautiful black-haired woman said - "Wait, you're one of Takashi's friends."

"It's good to see you, Kaede-san" - Cloud replied as he gave her a blank look.

"Oh, thanks for catching me" - Kaede said with a small smile before getting up, though her expression changed to one of happiness when she heard her son's voice outside the house.

* * * * *

"Thank you for saving my mother, Cloud" - Takashi said happily as he watched his girlfriend talking with his mother.

"Don't mention it" - Cloud replied as he shrugged his shoulders - "It's a pity we didn't find Kiriko-san though."

"Never mind, I found a letter telling me she was fine" - replied Rei as she shook her head - "Leaving that aside... Don't you guys feel that this place is a bit strange?"

Cloud frowned when he heard this, though his expression changed when he saw how out of nowhere a group of zombies appeared from the right - "Shit!"

The zombies started snarling in their direction and running after them.

"Step on it!" - Cloud exclaimed as the plot seemed to have restarted.

"Hey, fatso!" - Saya exclaimed as she grabbed a pistol in her trembling hands - "How do I use this thing!"

"Simple, take the safety off, aim at 5 centimeters from the chest of those things and shoot" - replied Kohta while ignoring the pink-haired girl's insult because it was obvious she was nervous - "Wait until we're still, or you're just going to waste bullets"

"Understood" - Saya muttered while gritting her teeth because she was scared, after all, those things had been human.

Rei grabbed an assault rifle, while Miku grabbed a shotgun - "This one's heavier than the arcade guns."

Kohta simply rolled his eyes at her, after all, he didn't have time to say anything else, not to mention that at least the latter girl had a bit of experience. The two situations weren't similar, but at least it had given her enough experience to hold a firearm as comfortably as possible.

"I want you to only fire when those things are close" - Cloud said seriously as he continued to drive - "Saeko"

"Say no more" - smiled Saeko as she pulled out her shinai - "Your gaze tells me everything."

Cloud simply nodded as he started accelerating in the direction of the zombies.

Saya was about to scream, when she saw how Saeko started to eliminate all the monsters in her path, with the help of Kohta, who was supporting them from the humby.