A youth story of a passerby at the end of the world

Some of the zombies' pale eyes noticed that there were still people by the door and reached out to grab them.

As Kuriyama dodged, the door, which was moving inward due to inertia, came to a thud after knocking over a zombie that was rushing out.

Before the zombie could even get up, its kin inside the door stepped on it and ran forward.

It was unclear whether it would ever get up again. Its hands, torso, and legs were being trampled on repeatedly, and more than a dozen bones were broken. Its head was constantly hitting the ground while tripping over some zombies, its mouth was smashed and bloody, and several teeth were knocked out.

Even without feeling pain, the hoarse voice coming from the leaky mouth sounded miserable.

The door stopped, and Watanabe instinctively sensed something was wrong. He rushed forward, ran to the side of the door, and tried to force it shut from the outside. He called out to Kuriyama, who was running towards him, "Come help me."

One person continued to close the door while the other helped hold off the zombies, and they were still able to close the door.

Then Kuriyama glanced at him, walked past him, and the zombies behind him rushed towards him.

In fact, Kuriyama paused for a moment as he passed the door. He had only been concerned about himself when he realized he had to close it. He had intended to listen to Watanabe, but then realized it was too late. He continued running forward without stopping.

Watanabe couldn't stay put and wait to die, so he let go to dodge the zombies' attacks. Mimori and the others who were running towards him also stopped.

"Run!" Mimori shouted to everyone to run away. At this moment, there were already more than a dozen zombies lying around him.

Suddenly he felt a weight on his leg and looked down. "A...a child?"

He froze, a chill shooting from his feet to the top of his head. A slight pain jolted him awake; the little zombie was tearing at his thigh, hissing...

I instinctively tried to shake it off, but it wouldn't budge because it was firmly held. My hand was pressed against its forehead, and I tried to push it off.

"You idiot!" The comrades next to him were getting impatient and hit the little zombie on the head with a stick.

As a result, he was pounced on by the zombies that followed.

-----------------

"Help! Help!"

A piercing cry for help came through the radio, accompanied by heavy static.

But Yukinoshita Haruno recognized the voice. "Mimori, what's wrong?"

"There are hundreds of zombies in the warehouse." It was quite remarkable that he could speak clearly, even while panting heavily.

Yukino Yukinoshita glanced back at Uesugi Genshin, who was checking the drawers, and Uesugi Genshin was also looking at Yukino Yukinoshita.

It sounds like some kind of accident has happened.

“…Please help.” The radio crackled; they must have entered an area with poor signal.

"This is Sawada, they're on their way to you. Where are you?" SAT, who was left at the entrance of the garrison, shouted over the radio.

"In the warehouse, in the warehouse... in the storeroom." The word "warehouse" could be barely heard.

"Ah!!!" A muffled scream came through the radio, then there was no more sound, whether it was because there was no time to spare during the battle or something else.

"This is Murai. We haven't found any ammunition yet, but we can see hordes of corpses suddenly appearing. It will probably take some time to get there and rescue them."

"Don't worry about that place. Find the bullets first, then proceed with the operation," Yukinoshita Haruno ordered.

If there are a lot of zombies, it's easier to deal with them with a gun that has bullets, rather than swinging a stick.

However, she still instructed Murai to make his own judgment, and then asked, "Sawada, is there enough time?"

"Running..." You could hear the other person's heavy breathing; they were putting in their best effort.

"Ha..." Yukinoshita Haruno hung up the radio. She hadn't actually seen it, so she didn't know the situation there, but Sawada's group might still be a bit short.

"What's wrong?" Uesugi Genshin stopped what he was doing, stood up, and asked seriously.

“They’re trapped over there.” Without a moment’s hesitation, Yukino Yukinoshita said, “Let’s go take a look.”

Mimori and his comrades were veterans in the team, valuable and experienced combat personnel within the base. They were originally selected elite operators, and if they were to sacrifice themselves without a care in the world, their father and mother would be extremely distressed.

"And this way..." Hachiman asked.

"I've handed it over to the SIT people." Yukinoshita glanced out the window at the building below, made a radio call, and ran towards the door.

Yukino Yukinoshita nimbly leaped down the four-story steps and instructed, "...After checking the storage room, come to the fourth floor and search the offices. The zombies have all been cleared out, so this place is yours. Find the access card."

Uesugi Genshin followed behind her and quickly ran out of the gate. There was still nothing unusual here; there were only the corpses of the zombies they had killed.

Recalling the location of the warehouse on the map drawn by Murai, Yukinoshita Haruno ran forward, but Uesugi Genshin grabbed her hand.

“There’s a bicycle over there!”

Yukinoshita was dragged by Uesugi Genshin to the parking lot, where Self-Defense Force officers parked their bicycles to work.

Chapter 208: An Accident. An accident...

"The bicycle is locked." Yukinoshita Haruno tightened her grip, as if complaining.

"..." It was indeed locked. After letting go, Uesugi Genshin pulled out the gun from her thigh, pushed the safety off with his thumb, pulled the slide to chamber a round, aimed at the car lock, and fired a shot that broke the lock.

Yukino Yukinoshita's eyes widened in shock. The gunshot was indeed loud enough, or perhaps it was because Uesugi Genshin's actions were too swift and decisive.

She engaged the safety, reinserted it into her holster, and with a tug, the broken lock was tossed aside.

"What if we attract zombies?"

"Then let's talk about it then, isn't it in a bit of a rush?"

Uesugi Genshin got on his bicycle, and Yukinoshita Haruno sat sideways on the back seat, her right arm around his waist. As she sat down, she didn't forget to remove the sword hanging at his waist.

"Didn't they say you can't sit on the back of a bicycle now?" Uesugi Genshin shouted back without turning his head as he pedaled with difficulty.

“People must have sat in the back seat of this old car,” Yukinoshita Haruno countered from another angle.

Because of the laws that prohibit people from sitting on the back of bicycles in recent years, bicycles have gradually stopped having a back seat, but this one does, so it is obviously not just for putting items on the back.

“Maybe he bought it and then modified it,” Uesugi Genshin retorted, sounding quite old.

"So that's what I'm saying." Yukinoshita gave him a good squeeze of his stomach, urging him to ride faster, "Let's go!"

Had they left him behind? Hachiman watched them speed ahead, sighed deeply, and found an unlocked bicycle to ride after them.

He stood up and pedaled hard, finally catching up. He shouted ahead, "Isn't this one...unlocked?!"

"Yeah, that's right." Uesugi Genshin shouted back as he pedaled, "That's the only one!"

"..." Upon hearing this, Hachiman was speechless. Then he saw Yukinoshita Haruno in the back seat looking at him with a grin, as if she were looking at a fool.

They arrived at their destination after riding for a short while. In the distance, they could see the roofs of three large warehouses, and the open space in front of the warehouses was already filled with zombies.

And dozens of zombies were banging on the warehouse door, the "bang bang bang" sound could be heard even from that far away.

"What should we do?" Hachiman asked from the side, slowing down.

"Let's distract them, and then Hikigaya-kun and Sawada and the others can go to rescue them later," Yukinoshita Haruno suggested.

"Huh?" Uesugi Genshin turned to look at her, only to be met with Yukinoshita Haruno's gentle smile, which interrupted him.

"Let's go, ride faster." With that, she took out her pistol, released the safety, cocked it, raised it with her left hand, and continued to tightly hug Uesugi Genshin's waist with her right hand.

"Yes, yes!" Uesugi Genshin, puzzled, pedaled his bicycle again and headed towards the distant horde of corpses, seemingly unconcerned.

"Hold on tighter." As soon as they reached the edge of the area, zombies spotted them and ran towards them, Uesugi Genshin warned.

"I know." As if to emphasize the strength of her knowledge, Yukinoshita Haruno increased the pressure on her hand.

But no matter how much he enlarged it, the slender arms around his waist always made Uesugi Genshin worry whether he was really holding on tight.

Without saying another word, he accelerated with all his might and instantly slipped through the gaps between the zombies.

At the same time, Yukinoshita Haruno shouted, "I'm firing!"

Despite the warning, the deafening noise that was almost right next to his ear the next second nearly made his hand tremble.

The effect was outstanding. Most of the zombies in the open space noticed the commotion. Even the zombies that couldn't squeeze in and had been lying on the outside trying to break down the door paused and slowly turned around.

After counting to "two," Yukinoshita Haruno fired another shot into the sky.

The "bang" sounded again, like a signal flare, and all the zombies started running and chasing after them. Seeing this, Uesugi Genshin quickly turned and rode onto the main road next to him.

"Three!" "Bang!"

"Four!" "Bang!"

"Run away quickly~~~" Yukinoshita Haruno laughed merrily, kicking her legs in the back seat as she watched the zombies chasing after them. She could clearly see the faces of some of them that were very close.

"I know!!!" Her laughter, as clear as a silver bell, made Uesugi Genshin feel like his ears were about to get pregnant.

"..." As if she had laughed herself tired, Yukinoshita pressed her cheek against Uesugi Genshin's back, completely unconcerned that he was drenched in sweat from riding his bicycle.

Glancing sideways at the zombies gradually falling behind, she suddenly broke into a mischievous smile, aimed her pistol at the horde of zombies behind the car, and fired.

The smell of gunpowder filled the air and was left behind them. One zombie in the horde fell down, followed by a small group of about three or four.

"Bang" "Bang" "Bang"

Yukino Yukinoshita's marksmanship was truly impressive; she hit her target with almost every shot she fired. This wasn't due to the dense horde of zombies; the gun's stopping power was practically useless unless the target was in the head, yet she consistently managed to hit the head.

The bullets had all been fired by the time the "click-click" sound rang out.

She fell completely silent, her empty gun in one hand and her other hand wrapped around Uesugi Genshin's waist, her forehead pressed against his sweat-soaked shirt, and she remained silent.

This time it was Uesugi Genshin's turn to act. He drew his sheathed sword and smashed it, sheath and all, into the face of the approaching zombie, feeling a slight pang of regret for the golden-black lacquer on the sheath as he did so.

My heart was pounding so hard I couldn't even feel any heartache anymore.

"Don't get thrown off." After giving this brief reminder, Uesugi Genshin gripped the handlebars with one hand again and swung the sword to the left.

Yukino crossed her arms over his chest, pressing her chest tightly against his back.

"It's too tight." Feeling as if a heavy weight was hanging on his body, making it difficult to move, Uesugi Genshin called out to his back.

"Eh~" Yukinoshita Haruno moved her arms down, her arms returning to his waist. "What do you want me to do?"

"Where are you from, little sister?" Uesugi Genshin retorted, listening to the joke from the person in the back seat. He didn't even dare to breathe loudly at that moment.

"I really want an older brother," Yukino Yukinoshita muttered softly, so she wouldn't have to work so hard.

The words were drowned out by the howling wind and the heavy breathing of the man in front.

-----------------

"The zombies here have been lured away by Yukinoshita and the others," Hachiman Hikigaya explained to the SAT members who arrived shortly afterward.

Although there are still quite a few zombies in the open space, there are significantly fewer than before.

Some came from the second warehouse, while others were still prying at the door; overall, the number wasn't large.

"So, all we need to do is clear out those zombies, right?" Sawada took a deep breath, calming his heart and lungs.

"Hmm, you guys came very quickly." Hachiman Hikigaya smiled. It was indeed a compliment, because they really hadn't gone far from Genshin's side before they came running over, their pace was comparable to theirs on bicycles.

"Of course, of course." His tone was still a little hesitant, but facing this young man who was half a generation younger than him, Sawada gave him a thumbs up.

Although he is jokingly called "the late Sawada", he is also a rigorously selected and experienced SAT member.

"You all heard that, right?" A few seconds later, Sawada, who had almost recovered, said to his teammates.

“Yes!” the others replied.

Sawada turned to the young man in front of him and said, "Let's start from the outside."

"Hmm." Hachiman Hikigaya reminded them again, "Half of them escaped from the second warehouse. We don't know how many are still inside. Let's be careful and try not to disturb them."

"I see."

Then, Hachiman Hikigaya and the others stood at the edge to clear away the zombies that were rushing towards them. The zombies led the way, launching waves of attacks on them, but they were all knocked to the ground by the zombies.

This was the first time that Sawada and his group had experienced Hachiman Hikigaya's fighting prowess up close.

"Where did you find Ms. Yukinoshita to be your contact?" Sawada asked, his admiration evident. "Would you like to join our team someday?"

The general idea is that they hope to form a permanent team with the people in S.

"..." How could he possibly explain this? He wasn't even a member of the Chiba Self-Rescue Committee. Hachiman Hikigaya carefully considered his words. "We're from an outside organization; we're just helping out temporarily."

"Is that so?" the other team member sighed. "I didn't expect Miss Yukinoshita to have connections outside. Ah, was it during those few days when she wasn't around?"

"Right?" Hachiman Hikigaya had no idea which days he was referring to, but it sounded like Yukinoshita Haruno had been very busy and hadn't shown her face for those few days.

"The Chiba Self-Help Committee is probably the largest group in Chiba." Sawada sighed and didn't continue. He felt that Ms. Yukinoshita must have her own plans for this group.