Journey of The Dead (2)

"That's..." Riku muttered as he spotted a small helicopter flying high between the buildings in the distance, its size appearing tiny due to the long range. It wasn't just Riku who noticed the helicopter; Takeshi and Mina also seemed to be aware of it. 

What was strange, however, wasn't that the helicopter was heading toward them, but rather that as it got closer, it began to descend, almost as if it intended to rescue them. The loud noise from the helicopter was deafening, and the wind generated by its rapidly spinning blades forced Takeshi and Mina to raise their arms to shield themselves from the dust being swept up nearby. 

But Daiki and Riku waved their arms and shouted toward the helicopter, trying to signal to those inside that they weren't among the grotesque, human-hunting creatures. 

Instead of stopping and dropping a rescue ladder, the helicopter dropped an object and continued flying past them without stopping. 

"Heyyy...! We're over here... Hey...!" Riku shouted, jumping up and down while waving at the helicopter. 

"Please help us...! Hoi...!" Daiki did the same as Riku. However, the helicopter didn't stop or turn around—it only flew further away, ascending back into the sky. 

"Tch... Why are they ignoring us?!" Riku grumbled in frustration, annoyed that the helicopter had completely disregarded them. 

After a moment of watching the helicopter disappear from view, Takeshi shifted his attention to the object the helicopter had dropped. It wasn't too far from where he stood, only about seven steps away. Takeshi quickly approached it and picked it up, but he was shocked to realize that the bat in his left hand belonged to... 

Mina had also followed Takeshi to where he was standing, accompanied by Emi, who had heard the helicopter's noise and seen it through the bus window. What confused Mina wasn't the object that had been dropped but rather Takeshi's stunned expression. His eyebrows furrowed in disbelief. 

"What's wrong?" Mina asked Takeshi bluntly, her expression as sharp and serious as usual. Takeshi didn't answer her question at all. Instead, it was Emi who let out a loud gasp beside Mina as she saw what Takeshi was holding. 

"This is...!" 

Mina was slightly startled by Emi's reaction as if she recognized something about the bat. Adjusting her glasses, Mina asked Emi again. 

"What is it, Yamaguchi-san? Do you know something about this bat?" Mina asked sharply. 

"This is Ryuji's bat... but why..." Takeshi muttered, successfully drawing Mina's attention back to him. 

"Everyone...! Get back on the bus...! They're coming in huge numbers...!" 

Suddenly, the three of them were startled by Riku's shout. And sure enough, when Takeshi, Mina, and Emi looked around, they saw a massive horde of creatures approaching from the south and west. This naturally caused panic among them, including Takeshi, who clicked his tongue in frustration as he stared at the overwhelming number of creatures staggering toward them from the intersections and alleys nearby. 

"Tch... Damn it..." Takeshi muttered angrily. 

"I think they were drawn here by the loud noise from the helicopter earlier," Mina offered a logical explanation. The creatures were highly attracted to loud or noisy sounds, and the helicopter's noise had been more than enough to lure them toward Takeshi and the others. 

The helicopter had also flown quite low over them, which alone was enough to invite the hungry creatures here. 

"We should get back to the bus..." Emi warned the two people near her, urging them to get inside the bus to avoid being attacked. 

"Let's go, hurry!" Takeshi barked, running away from the spot, followed by Mina and Emi, who also sprinted back toward the school minibus. 

"Daiki...! Get in and start the engine now. We need to get out of here immediately," Riku ordered Daiki, who quickly pulled the fuel hose out of the dispenser and tossed it aside. The chubby young man immediately ran into the bus, following Riku, who had already entered first. The refueling process had been completed a minute ago, so Daiki didn't hesitate to start the bus engine without a second thought. 

The roar of the engine immediately drew the attention of the zombies nearby, who began running toward the minibus as thin smoke billowed from its exhaust. Emi, Mina, and Takeshi, carrying two bats, also managed to get onto the bus just in time. A split second later, the bus sped off, thick white smoke rising from the spinning rear tires as Daiki slammed the gas pedal hard. 

"Wait...! Ryuji-kun is still in that store!" Nao shouted from her seat, her mind completely consumed with thoughts of Ryuji, Ryuji, and Ryuji. She didn't even realize that Aya-sensei was also with Ryuji in the store, her worry for the sapphire-eyed young man overwhelming her. 

"Eh?! That's right! Stop, Daiki! Ryuji and Aya-sensei are still there!" Emi yelled loudly, only realizing this thanks to Nao's words. Her expression instantly turned worried as she remembered someone very important to her was left behind in that store. Meanwhile, Takeshi, Mina, and Riku's faces also tensed up as they realized the same thing. 

"S-sorry, everyone. I-I can't stop the bus now. There are too many of them on the sides and behind us," Daiki stammered. Despite this, he slowed the bus down from its previous speed. Noticing that the bus door was still open, Takeshi quickly moved toward it. However, Mina's shout startled everyone, including Takeshi, who had already grabbed the door handle, ready to close it. 

"That's them! They made it out and are running toward us!" 

Mina's shout successfully drew Emi, Riku, and Nao's attention to the large rear window of the bus. From there, they could see two figures in the distance running as fast as they could, chased by a huge horde of zombies. Daiki tried to look back through the side mirror of the bus. Meanwhile, Takeshi stopped his hand from closing the bus door upon hearing that his friend had managed to escape. 

"Ryuji!" Emi screamed at the top of her lungs, releasing the turmoil of worry in her heart. It wasn't just Emi—Nao and Mina were also filled with anxiety. Without realizing it, Nao and Mina muttered the same words simultaneously. 

"Please, God." 

"Please, God." 

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. 

. 

The sound of irregular breathing came from Ryuji and Aya-sensei. They had managed to escape and were now running as fast as they could along the roadside, seeing a large number of zombies chasing the minibus ahead. 

It seemed the zombies didn't notice Ryuji and Aya running beside them. Since the zombies weren't moving too fast—some stumbling and others limping—Ryuji and Aya were able to overtake them from the side and get ahead. 

"Come on, Sensei!" Ryuji gasped, struggling to catch his breath. 

"I'm running... as fast as I can, Nakamura—" Aya replied, her condition no better than Ryuji's. In their haste, some of the items in the plastic bags Ryuji was carrying fell onto the road. Ryuji, noticing this, quickly tied the bags tighter. 

'Damn it...' he cursed inwardly, glancing at the cans and chips scattered behind him. 

"Are they... not seeing us?!" Aya-sensei asked, starting to tire from running nonstop. Ryuji, hearing Aya-sensei's question, thought the same thing. The bus hadn't stopped, forcing him and the alluring teacher to keep running. 

"I'm not sure... but I'm confident... they'll help us!" Ryuji answered Aya-sensei's question, his breathing growing shallower. Unbeknownst to them, their running speed was slowing as their stamina dwindled. 

. 

. 

. 

"Their running is slowing down! They're exhausted," Mina remarked, noticing the distance between them and Ryuji and Aya-sensei increasing while the distance between the two and the horde of hungry zombies was closing. 

"Ryuji-kun!" Nao cried out, her worry for Ryuji growing. 

"Daiki, stop the bus now!" Emi shouted, equally anxious as she watched Ryuji and Aya-sensei running out of breath. 

"Damn it! Daiki, stop the bus!" Riku ordered, his face tense as he saw the large number of zombies chasing Ryuji. There was no denying that he, too, was deeply concerned for Ryuji, who was now in a dire situation. It wasn't just because Ryuji had saved him and the girl he liked—no, it was more than that. Ryuji was his friend! 

"Stop the bus now, or— Aa!" Emi was thrown backward, landing on the floor as the bus jolted violently as if it had hit something. 

"I-I've been trying to stop the bus... The reason I didn't stop it earlier is because... they're also in front of us, Yamaguchi-san," Daiki explained, his face drenched in sweat. He truly didn't know what to do at this moment. Mina, Riku, and Emi, who had gotten up from their fall, now wore expressions of shock and confusion. 

"Daiki's right... If they're also in front of us, it's impossible to stop the bus. Even if we force it to stop and they manage to get in, we won't have a chance to escape because the zombies in front will block the bus's path," Mina Kobayashi explained critically, analyzing the situation. Her explanation left Nao, Riku, and Emi stunned and speechless. The bus continued to shake occasionally as it hit the grotesque creatures in front. 

"W-what...?! But what about—" 

"We need to maintain the bus's speed at a level that can push them aside. In other words... the bus must keep moving fast," Takeshi said, stepping away from the bus door and approaching Daiki, who was driving, cutting off Emi's sentence. 

"Riku, guard the door and help them both get on the bus," Takeshi instructed Riku. Without complaining a lot, Riku followed Takeshi's orders and immediately headed to the door of the bus, which had not shut fully. 

"Daiki, listen to me carefully." 

"Alright," Daiki stuttered, responding to Takeshi, who was now beside him. 

"First, you need to believe in yourself," Takeshi said hurriedly. 

"I-I understand." 

"Second, reduce the speed of the bus to 28 km/h." 

"B-but Kageyama-san—"

"Remember, Daiki, believe in yourself!" Takeshi said firmly, trying to reassure Daiki about his plan. Daiki swallowed hard and gave a quick nod. 

Mina, watching Takeshi from behind, adjusted her glasses as the bus shook a few more times. Although she hated to admit it, she was placing her hopes on Takeshi, as the young man now held the key to saving Ryuji and Aya-sensei. 

'Please... Kageyama!'

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The breathing of the two runners became increasingly erratic as they chased the bus, which seemed to have slowed down. Ryuji looked both shocked and relieved at the same time. 

"Sensei, look... They're slowing down... their speed!" Ryuji said, his face lighting up with renewed energy. Aya couldn't help but look at Ryuji's sudden burst of enthusiasm, especially when they were both exhausted. She wondered to herself, 'Is this kid really that clueless? Doesn't he realize how tired his own body is right now?'

Still, despite her thoughts, Aya managed to smile amidst her increasingly ragged breathing. She was genuinely happy to have a student who never gave up, no matter the situation—though his foolishness seemed to rival his determination. 

" Let's go, Aya-sensei...!" 

"...Hooaaa!" 

Ryuji was startled mid-run when someone tried to grab him from the front. With quick reflexes, he jumped high and kicked the person in the face before continuing to run. 

"It seems they're also coming... from the front," Aya said, zigzagging to avoid the grotesque creatures trying to grab her from ahead. Now she understood why her colleagues hadn't stopped the bus. 

"Damn it...!" 

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