The only way to check and see if she was safe was to go back into the house, but there was also the issue of what to do with Haruka and the others. The sedan had several holes in it, so considering that the clawed zombie would be able to tear through the steel fence, it was too risky having them wait at the dorm. Yet on the other hand, having them park somewhere would make them vulnerable to other zombies.
Besides, the clawed zombie had seen this car, so if it was intelligent, it would probably come after the minivan…
“Is there even a way to defeat that clawed zombie…?” I mumbled to no one in particular. It had regenerated after I pushed it off a bridge. Maybe our best option was to give up on going back to the dorm, find Kamiji, then keep running from it…
“—Your bodily fluids inhibit the movement of the zombie virus, right?” Ichinose suddenly asked. “You said the giant zombie you fought before began squirming in pain as soon as it swallowed your arm. What if you tried making that clawed zombie drink your blood? If you crush its head after that, there’s a chance it won’t be able to regenerate.”
“I see… It’s definitely worth trying.”
I hadn’t intentionally made that giant zombie swallow my blood, though. Could I do the same thing to this clawed zombie? It seemed hard just to get close to it…
I wasn’t sure, but Kamiji’s life was in danger.
“I can’t think of anything else we could try. We have to give it a shot.”
My mind made up, I asked Haruka to take a different route back to Kamiji’s house. We pulled up next to the destroyed sedan and I looked around, but there was no sign of the clawed zombie.
I grabbed my metal bat and small knife and got out of the car. I always carried a knife with me to cut hemp rope, but this time it was for cutting myself. My plan was to cut my hand as soon as I saw the clawed zombie and shove it in its mouth.
“First, I’m going to look for Kamiji, so you guys wait here. Haruka, don’t turn off the engine, and take off if you see that clawed zombie.”
And with that, I entered Kamiji’s house.
Had the clawed zombie had a tantrum here? The living room was in terrible shape, but there was no sign of Kamiji or any traces of blood.
“Kamiji! Answer me if you’re here!” I shouted. There was no response, so I immediately went up to the second floor.
I noticed a stepladder had been stretched out horizontally on the balcony on the side of the house facing away from the road. It was about three meters long, and on the other side, I saw the roof of the house next door.
I opened the unlocked door to the balcony, and when I stepped out, my eyes met Kamiji’s; she was crouching on the neighbor’s roof.
“Kamiji! You’re safe!”
“Yeah. I heard the sound of the car being destroyed and made a run for it. It’s a good thing I moved the stepladder I found in the yard to the second floor. What happened to that crazy zombie?”
“I think it went somewhere. Our car is still out front, so I figure it hasn’t come back yet. Now’s our chance to get away in one piece.”
“Okay. I’ll go with you if you’ll hold up the stepladder.”
I lifted the stepladder and fixed it in place against the railing, then Kamiji carefully climbed across. Once she was on the veranda with me, we quickly walked through the house and out onto the road.
The moment Kamiji stepped outside, Haruka and the others cheered from the car.
But I could see the clawed zombie from out of the corner of my eye. It was back, and it was coming after us.
“Kamiji, get in the car and get away from here.”
“What about you?”
“I’m going to destroy it.”
I zombified, turned my back to the car, and held up my bat. I was going to protect Haruka and the others if it was the last thing I did.
The clawed zombie glared at me with its cloudy eyes and pounced. It delivered blow after blow in rapid succession, attacking me with blinding speed. Somehow, it seemed faster than when I’d fought it the day before.
I was going to make it drink my blood, but I couldn’t rush it. First, I had to break its claws so I could get in closer.
Our car had taken off, so I didn’t have a specific time limit. I gradually backed away, dodged its strikes, and carefully observed its attack patterns to see if it had any quirks I could use to my advantage.
After a little while, I realized that it stopped for a fraction of a second when it reached out to move from one strike to the next. As my eyes gradually adjusted to the speed of its onslaught, I swung the bat and smashed its claws from the side.
With a grating metallic sound, four claws on the left hand were sheared off. My hunch had been right: It seemed vulnerable to impacts from the side.
Okay, I’ll do the same to his right hand… Or so I thought when the clawed zombie suddenly closed in on me and raised its right arm.
With no time to readjust my hold on the bat, I instantly raised my left arm to cover my head, and the zombie slashed at me. My left hand disappeared from the wrist down and blood dripped from where it had been severed.
Those claws are so sharp! I should have avoided fighting the monster head-on…!!
Regretting my decision, I turned around and run.
Naturally, the clawed zombie came right after me, but that wasn’t a problem. I ran into the yard of a house and hopped up onto the meter-tall fence. Then timing it just right, I jumped off the fence and swung the bat as hard as I could at the zombie’s head as it came toward me.
Bull’s-eye! I made contact with the front part of its head. I pushed it down and stepped on its right arm and, at the same time, thrust my left arm toward its mouth, which hung open.
“You saved me the trouble of cutting myself by slicing off my arm!” I yelled triumphantly.
But just then, my world began to tilt.