New Dawn Chapter: 073

The second day of this new apocalyptic era was halfway through, and everyone was coping with this new state of things with more ease. Tysone and the rest of the group were inside the bus, either eating or resting, except for Tysone who sat next to Shizuka at the driver's seat, looking over a map of Tokonosu City.

Shizuka's cheeks were puffed like a squirrel's as she bit into a kimbap. Some of the rice grains stuck on the corner of her mouth. "What are you looking at?"

He didn't avert his gaze. "Places of interest." Tysone shifted closer, lightly running the tip of his index along a pathway. "We could probably loot food from here, and there. Also, I wonder if we could sneak into a military installation to procure more weapons."

Shizuka stared at him silently, eyebrows slightly raised. "Isn't that illegal?"

"Isn't it a bit too late to concern yourself with the legality of my ideas?" He chuckled, his eyes still on the map.

Shizuka pouted, chewing the last bit of her kimbap. "I guess you have a point." She mumbled, wiping the stray rice from her mouth with the back of her hand. "But still... breaking into a military base sounds dangerous."

Tysone shrugged. "Likely, yes. And I doubt zombies could easily get past a chain-link fence..." He put the map down for a second. "Still, our end goal is my place, which is far from the bustling city and is secure enough for us to hole ourselves inside. I have enough stock to feed us for a while, and we can loot convenience stores as we go."

Shizuka tilted her head, a sudden thought lighting up her face. "Oh! What about Rika's place?" She blurted out. "My friend Rika, she's in the Special Assault Team. Her apartment isn't far from here, and she has weapons! Lots of them!"

Tysone's eyes followed Shizuka's finger as she tapped at a location on the map.

Right, her. 

 "Then we have an extra objective for now." He nodded, looking outside the window. "We should move before it gets too dark."

Shizuka hummed and stretched, her joints cracking. "Okay, I'm ready to drive again." She flashed him a small grin and started the car engine.

The rest of the group perked up at the sudden roar.

"Where are we going?" Rei asked as she moved towards the front of the bus to look at Tysone and Shizuka, Takashi not too far behind her.

"Shizuka-sensei's friend's apartment." Tysone responded. "The place is a few minutes from here, and if we're lucky, there could be a horde of useful equipment stored in her apartment. Like firearms or first-aid kits. It's not as far from my own place either."

Saya nodded, listening in. "God knows I need a bath... and some clothes to change into."

Her words were met with murmurs of agreement from the others. To be fair, the stench of blood overpowered any other odors. 

Tysone sat down next to Shizuka, analyzing the map. "It looks like we'll pass by a school on the way, too." He said, mostly to himself. 

…

Meanwhile, at Shinju High. 

As the fight raged on, more and more students either fell and turned into zombies, or deserted the group, leaving more blind spots to be exploited by the undead. 

And as if to add fuel to the flames, only a couple of students were combat ready and actively fighting, while the others just panicked, stumbling and tripping over their own two feet as they ran.

Marin's effectiveness in killing the creatures was diminishing at a fast pace. For starters, she was growing increasingly tired. For another, the jagged piece of wood in her hands was not so jagged anymore and had lost its piercing power, since the tip was becoming more and more blunt from repeated impacts.

There was a bus in the parking lot. It was within sight, but Marin's hopes in reaching that vehicle plummeted. There were just so many of them!

She glanced at Gojo, who looked around at his dismal environment, despair reflected on his wide eyes. "Do you think you could take one of them on your own?"

"Huh? W-What do you mean? Do you want me to kill one of them?!" Gojo exclaimed.

"At this rate, we are definitely going to be surrounded and torn limb from limb, if you didn't get it." Marin explained urgently. "And we will not make it to the bus without getting maimed or killed, since everyone's getting slaughtered and there's no one to actually fight back. They left us like sitting ducks. So..."

Gojo swallowed the protest. The more he looked at the school, the more hopeless the situation was. A school filled with zombies... and a parking lot that was soon going to be swarmed by even more of the undead.

In front of him, Marin was slowly getting overwhelmed; she wasn't that skilled to begin with, her determination and drive was what allowed her to get so far.

Gojo trembled, his grip on his scissors tightening. A zombie suddenly slipped past Marin and went straight for Gojo.

"N-No way...!"

His mouth hung open. Tears were forming in his eyes. In a wild move, he staggered back and held his scissors aloft just as the undead lunged. In a fortunate turn of events, the pointy edge pierced straight through the creature's skull.

The very same scissors that had been given to him by his late mother were now used to kill his very own kind.

"Good, one more down." Marin uttered, panting.

"Hah... I did it!"

Gojo was a trembling mess.

Marin, after dispatching of a zombie, offered a weak smile at her friend, inwardly glad that her friend had grown a backbone of some sorts. However, her eyes soon widened frantically. "Gojo—!!"

They were so preoccupied clearing the path forward that they forgot that no one was covering their backs.

Gojo's face froze in fear as he felt multiple grips on him, their rotten fingers clawing onto his limbs and shoulders. Their putrid breath washed over him.

A series of sickening snaps.

And the weight pulling him down.

They got his legs...

Then his arms...

Then...

"Gojo!!!"

Marin screamed, tears pooling up in her eyes.

Gojo held a trembling hand in her direction, but the distance was too far. "Help..." A zombie bit down on his neck, spraying blood like a geyser, his voice cracking into nothingness. "Me..."

She desperately rushed, or at least she tried to.

Someone grabbed her as they ran, dragging her along.

"You..."

Through her discombobulated world, she saw him; his tearful, lifeless eyes staring right at her, unblinking. And it hurt. It hurt because she felt like she could've done more.

Marin wanted to scream, to cry, to protest and pull free... but it was as though her whole body was frozen solid, a part of her mind realizing that resistance was futile. She bit her bottom lip so hard that she tasted blood. Eventually, she turned away from the sight of her friend and continued to run, tears silently flowing.

It took several minutes before her lungs began to feel tight, her energy running dangerously low, and her muscles burning as her surroundings flew past in a blur of motion.

It was only after they put some distance between them and the horde—hiding behind one of the buses—that Marin finally took a good look at the people who had grabbed her. Yumiko and Yui.

"You..." Marin was conflicted. Part of her wanted to desperately save Gojo, but another knew those had likely rescued her from a very stupid decision. "Thank you."

Yui offered a sympathetic look, one of genuine pity.

"No time for that." Yumiko hissed, sweating bullets. Marin noticed a small gash on her forearm. "We need to find some place to hide... shit. Everyone's scattering like rats."

She was right. At this moment, everyone else wasn't sticking to a group anymore. No doubt, they'd all thought it was every man for themselves at this stage. 

"It's over..." Marin muttered as she peeked over the bus. Even the PE teacher, after having his own students abandoning him, was swarmed and bit to death. It was a gruesome sight. She glanced at Yumiko. "Hey, are you alright? Your arm..."

"I'm fine." Yumiko growled, yet the way she kept her injured arm against her body told the contrary. She quickly cast away any lingering thoughts. "If only we had the keys for one of the buses, we could've been out of here right now."

"Do any of you even know how to drive?" Marin frowned.

Yumiko and Yui exchanged a glance before shaking their heads.

Marin sighed. "Nevermind, I should have known." She breathed out, Gojo's twisted face right at the end still vivid in her mind. She struggled to maintain a level, unfettered voice as she asked. "So, what now?"

Yui merely looked at Yumiko, whose body lay unresponsive and slumped against the bus. "Hey, are you—"

Yumiko's eyes slowly began to bleed.

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.