New Dawn Chapter: 071

Back at the firing range, Tysone stuck close to a pillar, peeking briefly before immediately retreating. A deafening shot rang out. The edge of the pillar was chipped off as the bullet passed through. "Damn it." He signaled Saeko and the others to not come down.

It looked like there was only a single survivor, but they were armed and injured. That combination was dangerous, since an injured individual was capable of making stupid decisions.

He peeked out again. This time, a bullet whizzed by his ear, hitting a rack a few meters behind. Tysone was lucky it missed, but he cursed inwardly. The gun wielding maniac was actually a sharpshooter; it wasn't that big of a surprise if that person frequented the firing range.

Still, Tysone couldn't wait forever.

He clutched his own gun. That bastard was hiding behind a pillar, just like him. The only difference was that he was on the opposite side. He'd have to take a chance, then.

That guy was good with a gun, but Tysone was just as well-learned. He was Hiro's pupil.

In one quick, fluid motion, Tysone leaned out from the pillar and fired, squeezing the trigger as fast as possible. The man ducked back just as a flurry of bullets tore through the pillar he was hiding behind.

But the momentary distraction was enough for Tysone. He darted out from behind his pillar, moving sideways and firing his own weapon as he advanced towards another pillar.

His opponent was quick, though. The bastard popped his head out, gun barrel aimed. Tysone reacted in a split second.

Both guns fired at the same time.

The crack of gunfire echoed through the range's basement. The sharp, violent sound left a ringing in Tysone's ears. His shoulder jerked back as a searing pain shot through him—the other man's bullet grazed him, slicing through fabric and skin.

But Tysone's aim held true.

His own bullet struck the man square in the forehead. A small, dark hole appeared between the stranger's eyes, a stunned expression frozen on his face for a heartbeat before his body crumpled to the ground in a lifeless heap.

Blood slowly blossomed around his head.

Tysone staggered back behind the pillar, his teeth clenched against the burning pain in his shoulder. Blood trickled down his arm, but he didn't have time to think about it. His eyes stayed locked on the motionless figure across the range, waiting, just in case.

Silence.

The bastard was dead.

Tysone exhaled a shaky breath, his grip on the gun still tight. "Clear." He muttered, loud enough for his companions to hear. Footsteps resounded loudly before Saeko, Takashi and Rei came running, their weapons raised.

"What happened?" Takashi asked, his voice tense.

"Got ambushed." Tysone grunted. "The man was injured. Didn't want to die."

"You're hurt." Rei observed.

"I'm fine." He hissed, pressing his hand against the wound. The bleeding wasn't too bad, but the pain was a bit distracting. It wasn't a shallow graze by any means, but thankfully it wasn't too deep either.

"Let me have a look at it." Rei insisted, moving closer.

Tysone shook his head, standing up. "Not now." He might have lose some flexibility, but nothing too drastic. It was a superficial wound, so no major damage. "We should search the premises and leave."

Saeko, who was standing a few feet away. "Is it truly necessary searching every nook and cranny of this place? What if we find a similar situation and you get hurt worse?"

Tysone was inclined to agree with Saeko, but he wanted to equip his group with guns as soon as possible. He was willing to take any risk now just so he didn't have to later.

Rei, glancing worriedly at the frayed fabric and red, bleeding wound on Tysone's shoulder, nodded resolutely at Saeko's words. "I'm sorry, but she's right. I think we should just leave at this point. We might not have gotten an arsenal of weapons as you wanted, but you still got something out of it. We're not exactly defenseless anymore."

Tysone lowered his head with a sigh. "Alright, let's not test our luck any further. Take the gun from that man's body and let's leave."

Rei smiled at his acceptance, while Saeko simply nodded, satisfied. Takashi said nothing, his expression grave as he walked up to the corpse. He wouldn't protest anymore about Tysone or anyone else's willingness to kill; he also knew that it was necessary, but it still felt wrong to be doing this when their enemy were the zombies.

Regardless, he still crouched down to pick the gun and handed it to Tysone, getting a nod from the latter. "Thank you." He checked the chamber. A couple of bullets remained. That should be enough for now.

They found a pack of ammo earlier; whoever raided the place couldn't possibly take everything. The ammo would last them a while. Tysone seriously risked losing his life there for a moment, but overall the group's strength was now boosted considerably.

They quickly left the firing range, scrambling back inside the bus.

"T-Ty, you're hurt..." Saya's eyes widened.

Mai and Miku also circled around Tysone.

"It's nothing." Tysone tried reassuring them.

"Let me have a look at it." Shizuka ran over, examining the wound. "Hmm. It doesn't look like anything serious, but this needs to be disinfected and cleaned up before we travel. If it's left unchecked, it could cause an infection."

"Yes, Shizuka-sensei. Please do so." He nodded, before turning towards Kohta. "Here, take this, buddy. Much better than a nail gun, right?" He tossed the pistol.

Kohta caught it in mid-air, his eyes glinting behind the glasses. A sharp smile curved his lips. "Ah, a Beretta 92FS..." He muttered, more to himself than anyone else. "Nine-millimeter, semi-automatic… smooth trigger pull, 15-round mag capacity... ohhh, this baby's a classic." His voice had that familiar edge of unfiltered excitement—the same tone he used when talking about guns, the only time he truly seemed at home.

Saya groaned. "Great. Just what we need. Kohta geeking out again."

Kohta didn't seem to hear her. He was already inspecting the pistol's slide, checking the chamber, and clicking the magazine release with practiced ease.

Tysone smirked despite the ache in his shoulder. "Thought you'd like it."

...

The sun's crimson hues bathed over the chaotic Shinju High School. All around the premises, zombies roamed, mulling about until they encountered another living being. The unfortunate ones were devoured without a single care.

Inside the gym's locker room, a large group of male and female students huddled, terrified as they were cornered and surrounded by hungry flesh-eaters.

Their fear was palpable, eyes wide and darting from door to door as the distant moans of the undead grew louder.

In the middle of the tense crowd, Yui Yuigahama clung to a group of the more popular students—the same ones who had, not long ago, made the ruthless decision to send the weaker kids outside as bait so they could escape. 

Now, those weaker students had come back as zombies, not helping the situation in the slightest, but merely adding to the already growing numbers. 

Yui had kept her mouth shut during the ordeal, flashing her usual nervous smile, pretending to agree with their heartless plan; she wanted to survive, and there was no way she could do so by herself. What was she supposed to do? Fight those things? 

"This is so bad... so bad..." Yui whispered, her voice trembling but still trying to sound hopeful. "But we're okay, right? As long as we stick together, we'll be fine!" 

She clutched her bag close to her chest, her nails digging into the fabric. The others ignored her, too busy arguing among themselves about the next move.

A cold, emotionless laugh made everyone turn to the last remaining male teacher—someone not popular at all due to his somewhat odd behavior. Yomi Komori. He was the PE teacher, and was infamously known to be a lecher. He stood there, casually swinging a baseball bat. "If it's survival, then it's obvious we should do as we did earlier. Send the weaker ones out, use them as a bait, and make a run for the parking lot. Or maybe, you prefer waiting for your family?"

No one dared reply.

"W-Who do we choose?" Someone whispered.

The answer would be someone without immediate family and no important connections. Someone weak, someone isolated.

Someone that no one cared about.

Naturally, most of the girls were at risk due to their physical weakness. Yomi's eyes swept past each of them, his eyes leering and roving. Some tried covering their breasts, while the rest cowered. Yomi's eyes eventually landed on Yui.

She was decisively the best looking one out of them all.

"You." Yomi pointed at her. "Weak, fragile thing. You will be our bait."

Everyone started to murmur, throwing nervous glances at the whimpering Yui.

"Me?!" Yui shook her head in terror. "Why me...?!" Her lips were dry.

Why? Why me? She thought, desperately looking for a way out of this mess.

Yomi shrugged. "You're the most useless one here. You think I can't see what you're doing? You're a leech." He grinned. "Of course, if you don't want to be the bait, you can always be useful in some other way...".

Author's Note:

If you're enjoying the story and want to read ahead or support my work, you can check out my P@treon at P@treon.com/LordCampione. But don't worry—all chapters will eventually be public. Just being here and reading means the world to me. Thank you for your time and support