“Okay… What next…?”
She finished loading the magazines and went back to the armory. There, she noticed two unusual gun cases that had never caught her attention. She opened them to check what was inside and found a sniper rifle and a shotgun. They must have been Chisato’s and Mika’s. What a lucky find. Not so much the sniper rifle, but that shotgun would come in handy. It was Kel-Tec KSG. It would be loaded with nonlethal ammunition, Takina assumed, but just to be sure, she opened one shotgun shell to check. It held six rubber bullets with metal cores. At close range, one shot would be enough to send three henchmen to the hospital. If you fired it at someone’s head, even nonlethal rounds would probably be enough to kill. And if your targets were zombies, you could take out a whole bunch of them with one shot.
Takina took the shotgun. She talked with Chisato about the sniper rifle, and they both agreed to leave it. They had enough stuff to carry as it was. Besides, a bolt-action gun would be too slow to use against a horde of zombies. As for zombies who were far away, it was better to simply ignore them than to snipe them. They didn’t have to worry about ranged attacks.
The girls started packing the essentials into the Boston bags. Guns, ammo, maintenance kits, a portable stove, food, water, sanitary supplies and medicines, a change of clothes, flashlights, radios, chocolate-coated biscuits…
“Wait. Biscuits?”
“Um, yeah? They’re yummy.”
“Okay…”
Takina sighed and put the biscuits in the bag, knowing that it was pointless to argue with Chisato.
They stuffed the two Boston bags to max capacity. They were so heavy that the girls couldn’t help but grunt when hoisting them onto their shoulders. They’d split the supplies between them, but the spiked bat, shotgun, food, and water accounted for most of the weight. Also, the weight wasn’t distributed evenly, as the bags had to be carried on one shoulder. Backpacks would have been easier to carry, but the girls also had their satchels, so they had to make do with shoulder-strapping the Boston bags.
Even Chisato grimaced when she lifted her bag.
“I can walk with it, but I’m not signing up for a marathon or any kind of fighting.”
“Let’s get a car. We need transport anyway.”
“Why didn’t you say so sooner? With a car, we can take way more stuff!”
“Because we can’t rely on having access to one at all times. We might have to ditch the car and run, so our luggage should be limited to what we can carry.”
When the situation is highly unpredictable, do you pack extra things just in case, or do you take as little as you can get away with, also just in case? It was a difficult choice. Either approach was justifiable and could prove to be a mistake, depending on the circumstances. Takina preferred to travel light, but if Chisato insisted, she’d consider agreeing to take a few more things. Chisato wasn’t fussed, though. It seemed she was happy as long as she had that spiked bat.
Packing supplies took them longer than expected. It was already quite late, so the girls decided to stay the night at the café. Takina took two futon mattresses out of the closet and spread them out on the tatami floor. Chisato immediately moved them so that they touched.
“Why did you do that?”
“It’ll be more fun!”
Chisato slipped under the quilt without taking off her uniform. She lifted the quilt on the other futon invitingly.
“Come on, don’t keep me waiting, Takina!”
Takina narrowed her eyes and took out the gun from her satchel.
“Yiiiikes! Are you mad at me?!”
“What are you talking about? I’m just putting it down by the pillow.”
“Ah, okay. I guess I’ll put my bat next to mine!”
Takina had been planning on them taking turns sleeping and keeping watch, three hours at a time, but she couldn’t be bothered to persuade Chisato to go with that. She wasn’t sleepy or tired, having only awakened from a nap a few hours earlier. She’d get in the futon but stay awake, keeping watch.
Takina tied her long hair with a scrunchie, letting the ponytail rest on her shoulder. She got under the quilt, a bit unhappy that her uniform would get creased, but taking it off was out of the question.
“I hope Teach and the others are okay.”
“They disappeared without a trace. I am also slightly concerned.”
Mika and Mizuki would sometimes go out, but Kurumi usually never left the café. Even before the zombies, danger awaited her outside of this safe haven. Her hacking skills were her lifeline, but the city had no electricity…
Kurumi kept her computer running 24/7, driving up the café’s electricity bills, which led to arguments. Takina had never seen Kurumi’s computer off before.
If this was a dream, it looked like Kurumi’s character wouldn’t be making an appearance.
“Hey, Takina… Is there someone you like-like? There’s gotta be someone, right?”
“Why are you asking me this?”
The totally irrelevant question puzzled Takina. She turned to look at Chisato in the futon next to her…but the closeness of Chisato’s face startled her, and she shuffled away.
“Talking about love is a classic for girls our age having a sleepover.”
“…Really? You want to talk about love when there are zombies prowling outside, and you’re going to sleep with a spiked bat by your pillow?”
“As long as mankind survives, we humans can’t help but talk about love! Come on, Takina, be honest with me now.”
“I have nothing to say on this subject.”
“I bet you do. Pretty sure you have a special someone. Well, Takina?”
Takina fixed her gaze on the ceiling, trying to ignore Chisato, but they were so close that Chisato’s breath tickled her ear. Unable to bear it, Takina turned her back on Chisato.
“Your hair is always looking great. It smells nice, too…” Chisato whispered.
Takina felt Chisato touching her hair. She ignored it, which Chisato took as a green light to remove Takina’s scrunchie.
“Chisato! Stop fooling aroun— Eek!”
When Chisato buried her face in Takina’s hair, the tip of her nose and her lips touching the nape of Takina’s neck, Takina squealed, jerking away.
“That was a funny noise.”