Chapter 28 – Overwhelmed

As soon as the operation started, our group was left outside.

Don Takagi led his men inside, each holding a sword and a handgun in his hand. Twenty men went in, leaving us to guard the factory entrance and the vehicles.

We spread around and kept an eye on the surroundings. I stood with Kohta near the entrance as we both had long-range weapons. Saeko worked with Saya while Takashi with Rei and Miss Shizuka ready in the humvee in case we had to run.

Moving in pairs would ensure our safety. Although we were only guards, zombies could appear at any time, so we had to be on alert.

"Hey, Senior..." Kohta suddenly called out.

I turned to him and raised an eyebrow.

"What's up?"

He hesitated for a moment before speaking up.

"Umm, last night? I meant two days ago." He said, looking at the ground. "Were you near the bridge by any chance?"

Well, look at this.

Did he realize that Shido was killed not by the police stray bullet but by me? I did also save him too.

Kohta was a smart kid, so it wasn't weird that he realized it.

However, I had no intention to admit I killed someone so openly. So I just smiled, hinting subtly that he was right.

"Ah... Don't worry, I won't say a thing." He said, scratching the back of his head. "I just want to thank you, someone who saved me from the zombie, hehehe. He actually headshot the zombie near me without even grazing me!"

"That someone must be a great shooter."

"Right?!" Kohta replied, "He must be an awesome guy! Haha, I can't wait to meet him!"

I laughed and turned away, continuing my watch.

The sound from inside the factory was loud enough to make me nervous. There was no shouting or anything, but I could hear gunshots and swords clashing.

As a result of that...

"Kohta, cover me. It seems they are here."

Zombies from the surrounding area got attracted by the sound and started to move to the factory. They were slowly walking, but they would be here soon. And there were many of them.

"Yes, Sir!" Kohta said.

I took a deep breath and unsheathed my sword. The crossbow would be used for emergency, to help someone far from me.

Besides, I wanted to test my current ability.

[Name: Busujima Daiki

Strength: 16 | Agility: 15 | Stamina: 19 | Dexterity: 14

Skills: Busujima Swordsmanship (Intermediate), Marksmanship (Intermediate)

Shop Points: 385 P]

My status had grown immensely thanks to the system. Although my Dexterity and Agility was lower than the others, it was still a few points more than when the apocalypse started.

For starters, I took a nice stone that fit on my hand from the floor and threw it to a nearby zombie.

It flew and hit the zombie's head with a loud crack, making it fall down.

'Still need more power. I can't kill them with my bare hands alone.'

I took another stone and threw it again, but this time it missed. The stone hit the zombie's chest instead of its head, creating a nasty bent and gushing puss.

"Ugh..." Kohta groaned at the sight.

Ignoring him, I took another stone and threw it again.

This time it hit the target, a zombie with long, black hair and torn school uniform, in the head. She dropped to the ground, unmoving.

'Hmm, my aim and strength is pretty good. A professional athlete level, I think?' I mused, 'Anyway, I should focus on killing the zombies now.'

As I continued to throw stones, I saw Saeko and Takashi group also dealt with the zombies coming their way. We were only 30 to 50 meters apart from each other, so we could help if someone needed it.

"Takashi, careful! There is one coming from behind you!" Rei shouted.

She dashed forward and stabbed the zombie in the head with her sharpened pole. Takashi turned around and swung his baseball bat, knocking the zombie's head off its body.

"Thanks, Rei!" He said, smiling.

Rei blushed and looked away. "No problem."

Saeko and Saya were fighting side by side. Saeko used her sword to slice off heads of the zombies while Saya shot them with a submachine gun she got from Yuriko.

As a result, many zombies approached them. I saw a zombie coming from the side of their fight, sneaking through the trees, and raised my crossbow. I aimed at the head and fired, the bolt shot out and hit the zombie in the forehead.

"Kyaa!"

Saya screamed in surprise when the zombie dropped right in front of her, a bolt sticking out of its forehead.

"Thank you, Daiki!" Saeko said, smiling at me. "That was a great shot!"

I smiled back and decided to help them.

"Kohta, go to the humvee and cover Miss Shizuka. I will go and help Saeko near the entrance."

"Got it!"

After giving instruction to him, I dashed to the two girls.

The zombies here weren't much, but they overwhelmed the girls. There was a chance they would get injured or worse, bitten.

"Here!"

I arrived and swung my sword at the nearest zombie. It slashed its neck, decapitating it. I then moved on to the next one and did the same.

"Brother!"

Saeko called out to me and we fought together, protecting Saya who was busy shooting the zombies with her submachine gun.

Ratata!

"Damn! I hate this!" Saya yelled out as she reloaded her gun, "There are so many of them!"

"Just stay calm, Takagi. Focus on shooting them." I replied as I sliced a zombie in half.

"Right! Right!" She said, aiming at the next zombie. "Die! Stupid zombie!"

She fired her gun and hit the zombie in the chest, but not in the head.

Without proper gun training, all she could do was aim and shoot. Most of the bullets strayed from her target, but some did hit the zombies in the head or legs, slowing them.

While I was fighting the zombies, I heard a silenced gunshot from behind. Kohta killed a zombie that strode toward the humvee. And before I realized it, Takashi and Rei also moved closer to that side, which wasn't good.

"There are too many zombies. Where did they come from?!" Takashi asked. "There were only a few when we arrived here!"

"Who knows? Maybe there is a town or a village nearby, or they were attracted to the noises." I replied, slashing a zombie.

My sword moved, leaving a streak of silver light in the air. The zombie fell to the ground, its head rolling on the asphalt road.

'This is getting worse and worse.' I thought, 'If this goes on, we will be overwhelmed.'

The number of zombies kept on growing and we had to retreat soon. However, we couldn't leave, because that would mean leaving the Takagi group inside.

We had to hold out until they came back.

'When will they be done? It's been a few minutes since they entered the building. At least they should have made contact with the survivors by now. Where are they?'

My question was answered by a huge explosion that occurred inside the building.

Boom!

***

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