We weren’t going to be able to use the sewer tunnels this time around. Zino lived in another town, and since each city’s sewer system was managed separately, they probably didn’t intersect. Even if they did, Otoha hadn’t mapped that far, so we ran the risk of getting lost. The actual distance we’d have to trek wasn’t looking all that appealing either.
Taking all this into consideration, we decided to head there on some BMX bikes we’d found at the hardware store.
It goes without saying, but we couldn’t pedal anywhere near the speed of a car, and there was the ever-present danger that we’d lose our balance and go toppling off our bikes. Still, this was undeniably a preferable alternative to walking, and we could easily steer around stray groups of zombies wandering the streets; in fact, we did it twice over the course of our journey.
Our only other option would’ve been driving past them, which was clearly out of the question. Bicycles didn’t exactly provide a whole lot of protection, nor were they built for ramming into things, so I’d say we made the right call.
After what felt like forever, we finally made it.
“Hey, Hiroaki.”
“Yeah?”
“Is this real life?”
“I don’t know, is it?”
Before our eyes was a cartoonishly large, two-story mansion surrounded by a lush natural garden and a needlessly tall fence.
Add some fortifications, sprinkle in a few towers here and there, and it would look like a castle straight out of a Disney movie.
For a moment, I imagined how cool it would be if a tactical shooter had this exact same mansion as a playable stage.
Man, I’d be all over that!
“One, two, three, four, five... You know what, let’s just leave it at five.”
“Come on, Otoha. You can do better than that.” We hopped off our bikes and pressed ourselves up against a nearby house.
There were a lot of zombies. A horde, maybe... No, a throng! Way more than five, in any case. Was this their twisted idea of a neighborhood party? ’Cause it sure seemed like it.
“You sure this is the place?”
“Sure as can be.”
While the outer fence was still hanging in there, the gate was in shambles and the once-pristine, white walls were now smeared with dried-up, blackish blood.
“Umm, is that your friend over there?” Otoha pointed at a zombie clutching some sort of cylindrical object.
Judging by the front sight and the long, thin barrel, it could only have been a rifle—most likely a hunting rifle. Normally, I would’ve really gobbled up the specs, but to be entirely honest, I wasn’t all that knowledgeable about guns that weren’t used in FPS games.
“I hope not.”
The zombie resembled a middle-aged man, but I had no idea whether it had once been the Zino I’d come to know and love.
“Here’s how this goes,” Otoha said, tightening her grip on the shovel. “We either turn back, or—”
“Gragghh!”
A mangled corpse which had once been a little girl suddenly poked its head out of the smashed window right beside us.
At that moment, Otoha’s ungodly reflexes kicked in and she chopped the girl’s misshapen head clean off in one fell swoop.
I doff my proverbial cap to you, fair lady.
There was just one teeny, tiny problem.
“Oh fu—”
The word that left my lips was drowned out by the sound of the girl’s decapitated body falling down onto the scattered shards of glass at our feet.
Unfortunately, however, the resulting noise was just loud enough to draw the zombies’ attention.
“Sorry ’bout blowing our cover,” Otoha said sheepishly.
“Don’t sweat it. We can always make our way back.” I turned to see a group of zombies that had materialized behind us. “Of cooourse, who’da thunk?”
We had to move. Now.
“Got any bright ideas?”
“Think, brain, think!” I carefully weighed our options. “Head for the mansion.”
“But there aren’t as many—”
“Just do it!”
There were considerably fewer zombies behind us, but they were densely packed in a tight space; meanwhile, the significantly larger group of zombies ahead of us was spread out across a large area, meaning we could weave between them.
“We got this, you hear?” I took out my crowbar.
“Loud and clear.”
With a quick nod, we rushed headlong into the belly of the beast.