Thankfully, Rika had a bike, which spared Takashi from taking his chances on foot. Not that a bike hadn't its drawbacks either. The noise would attract more of them, thus he'd need to be quick.
He didn't spare any additional words, jumping on the motorbike. Tysone and Saeko quickly opened the gates. Takashi sped through them, headlights flaring right on the zombies' faces.
Rei watched him, then glanced over to Tysone.
"Let's go upstairs."
Once they arrived on the balcony, they immediately saw Takashi advancing towards the girl, whose cries grew louder and more desperate. Kohta continued sniping them down, but the horde seemed never-ending. Soon enough, more than half of the apartment complex was surrounded by a sea of zombies.
Still, Takashi managed to reach his target, except that the idiot lost his bike after running over a corpse. From what they could glimpse from the balcony, he didn't hurt himself, and managed to save the girl by killing any approaching zombies.
Kohta was one hell of a back-up as well. No bullets were wasted. This guy would make a fine operative for Black Label—Tysone was genuinely thankful that he had someone like that in his team.
Everything seemed to be going fairly well, despite the danger.
However, within the blink of an eye, it escalated into an entirely different situation.
The zombies swarmed toward them like ants to honey, looking like a black mass converging right outside the gates.
Takashi and the pink-haired girl were forced to flee into a nearby alleyway. The barking dog followed them, jumping into the little girl's arms.
'They need assistance.' Tysone thought, moving his stare away from Takashi's direction and focusing on the gate beneath their building. Thankfully, most of the zombies seemed to have left that area in favor of attacking the motorcycle, though they had a few strays.
The problem was that now that Takashi made so much noise with his bike, they wouldn't have a safe zone anymore. More zombies would continue flocking to the apartment.
He grimaced slightly. He didn't want to leave Rika's place. If anything, he preferred staying inside and boarding the whole building up, at least until they were in better conditions to move again. 'Maybe we can try wiping them all out?' It'd be incredibly difficult. There was an unknown number of infected, and they'd likely grow by the second the longer the fight raged.
Still, in the original version of events, they didn't even bother coming up with alternative ideas.
Tysone didn't want a repeat of canon.
There was no way they could kill them all with just guns and melee weapons. Even if they fought efficiently, they'd run out of ammo or energy before the horde thinned.
Takashi was holding on for now, but the clock was ticking.
"At this point we might be forced to abandon the apartment." Saeko commented, eyes fixed on the scene. "We should stockpile as many supplies as we can to take with us."
Rei gritted her teeth. "But we just arrived here..."
Saeko shook her head. "I'd love for us to stay too, but I'm afraid we no longer have the luxury of that option."
Tysone's eyes flicked across the street, his mind racing. The world had gone to hell overnight, but that didn't mean solutions had to be complicated. Survival wasn't only about brute force.
The streets were a writhing mess of rotting bodies, moaning and shuffling towards the alley where Takashi had disappeared with the kid.
His gaze snapped to the fire hydrant at the corner, its rusted metal glinting faintly under the moonlight. An idea clicked into place. He turned to Kohta, who was still picking off strays with frightening precision.
"Kohta." Tysone called, voice low but firm.
Kohta didn't look away from his scope. His smile widened as a few more heads burst open. "Busy."
"Shoot the hydrant."
That made him pause. He pushed his glasses up his nose. "Why?"
"Because I said so. Do it."
Kohta gave him a look but didn't argue. With a nod, he shot. A single sharp crack split the air, and a moment later, water erupted from the hydrant in a violent spray, flooding the street. The force was enough to shove a few of the closer zombies off balance, sending them sprawling into the rising water.
"That one as well."
He pointed towards another one on the other end of the street, which also soon broke and began shooting out streams of water. The combined jets of water swept across the street. Soon enough almost all of the zombies were either wet or completely drenched.
The sudden distraction allowed Takashi to make a break for it in a sprint, rushing to the base.
Kohta cleared the way for him, mowing them down with headshots.
Saeko and Rei immediately rushed down to hold the gates open.
"Kohta." Tysone said, counting the seconds until Takashi arrived. "Do you see those power lines?"
"I see 'em." Kohta murmured, adjusting his scope. "What's the plan?"
Tysone glanced at the oncoming horde. Too many. Even with the water slowing them down, they'd be on them soon. Takashi was close, maybe twenty steps from the gate, the little girl clinging to him, her sobs barely audible over the chaos. The dog barking its maw off didn't help either.
Tysone exhaled sharply. "Shoot the insulator—drop the line into the water."
Kohta pushed his glasses up again. "That's a one-in-a-million shot, you know."
Tysone stared at him. "Good thing you don't miss."
Kohta smirked, rolled his shoulders, and took aim. A beat passed. Then another.
Crack.
The bullet hit true. A sharp snap echoed through the night as the insulator shattered, sending the live wire tumbling. The moment it touched the rising water, the effect was immediate.
A high-pitched whine filled the air, followed by the acrid scent of burning ozone. The nearest zombies convulsed, their bodies jerking violently, limbs flailing like grotesque marionettes. The current spread through the waterlogged street, arcing in pulses of crackling blue light.
One by one, they collapsed. Some twitched, others stiffened before falling face-first into the electrified flood. The smell of charred rot thickened the air.
Takashi didn't slow, even as the light flickered around him. He leaped over the last puddle, clearing the danger zone just as the gate slammed shut behind him.
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Then Kohta let out a low whistle. "Damn. That worked."
Tysone looked over at the panting Takashi from the balcony. Slowly, he made his way down along with a grinning Kohta. "How's she?"
Takashi wiped the sweat from his brow and swallowed hard, forcing his lungs to draw in deep breaths of cool night air. The dog in the girl's arms squirmed and licked her face relentlessly, drawing out faint giggles.
"I think she'll be okay." He managed finally. He ran a hand through his damp hair. "You saved our asses big time."
Tysone chuckled dryly. "That was quite a gamble, to say the least. Still, you're alright?"
"I'll live." Takashi rubbed the back of his head. He had some scrapes here and there, but those were from tripping over rather than from a bite. "Thanks... for having my back."
"No prob. I still stand by what I said earlier. You're too much of a valuable resource to pull a stunt like this, but..." Tysone took one look at the girl. He wasn't heartless, but he did prioritize the lives of the group more than the rest of the world. It was just practical. "... you did a good deed today. She'll live because of you."
Saeko and Rei were checking up on the girl in the meantime.
Once they verified that the girl wasn't in danger or injured anywhere, Saeko approached Takashi. "Your reckless act was admirable, Komuro-kun. While I agree with Tysone, you do deserve some recognition for stepping in." She then turned towards Tysone, nodding appreciatively. "That was some quick thinking. I won't expect all of them to be dead, but hopefully this will buy us some more time to decide on our next move."
"That was so badass." Kohta grinned, giving a thumbs-up. "Where did you learn to come up with stuff like that? Especially while under pressure!"
Tysone didn't think it'd work so easily, nor did he believe it to be a genius idea; then again, this was an anime-based universe. Sometimes the most logical of ideas were thrown out of the window in lieu of anime shenanigans.
He waved him off. "It was nothing special. Just a stroke of genius at the right time."
While everyone was cheering over their victory against such odds, Tysone felt a shiver run down his spine. He immediately snapped his gaze back to the streets.
A sloshing sound, like that of footsteps sinking into water, cut through the hum of the downed power line. Emerging from the darkness came a hulking figure draped in the tattered remnants of a dark blue uniform.
Its strides were slow and lumbering. As it drew nearer, details revealed themselves in flashes of sparking electricity: blood-stained clothing, pale gray skin stretched thin over gaunt features, eyes clouded milky white yet somehow eerily focused, a massive frame standing at nearly seven feet tall—a zombie cop.
And the same one Tysone spotted hours ago.
Author's Note:
If you're enjoying the story and want to read ahead or support my work, you can check out my P@treon at P@treon.com/LordCampione. But don't worry—all chapters will eventually be public. Just being here and reading means the world to me. Thank you for your time and support.