Chapter 42

She tried to intrude onto our balcony the moment she saw me.

I had thought she was frail when we bumped into each other in the hallway, but without even mustering any strength, she broke through the plastic partition with her slender arms, piece by piece.

She was an infected.

Her eyes, clouded as if she had lost her mind, and the way she reached out to me without caring that her arm was bleeding from the broken plastic—it all matched what I had seen on the internet.

I should have never checked what the noise was.

I ran to the entrance, almost crying.

I didn’t care about my smartphone or the backpack I had prepared.

I took out the running shoes I had started using since I began my diet from the shoe rack and hurriedly put them on.

With trembling hands, I tied the laces roughly but firmly, and just as I finished, I heard the sound of glass shattering behind me.

“Ah...”

I let out a silent scream and turned around to see the infected breaking through the glass door and entering the room.

I rushed out of the room.

I couldn’t afford to lock the door or even check the hallway.

Fortunately, there were no infected in the hallway, and I ran to the emergency stairs.

Taking the elevator and having the doors open to reveal a crowd of them would have been a disaster.

I was grateful that I still had the presence of mind to think about it.

I managed to move my trembling legs and descended the stairs.

I opened the door as quietly as possible at the bottom and saw multiple infected in the parking lot.

They hadn’t noticed me yet.

There was no turning back.

If I returned to the room, I would only end up joining my neighbor’s “group.”

I steeled myself and started running as quietly as possible.

+++++

The street visible from my balcony was filled with infected, so I hurried to the city hall through the back alleys.

There were several routes to the city hall, but whether I chose the right one or just had good timing, I didn’t encounter many infected along the way and gradually got closer to my destination.

It was impossible to avoid being seen by the infected, but as I had seen on the internet, they only pursued me by walking slowly.

To conserve my strength, I didn’t run at full speed but at a pace slightly faster than my usual jogging.

I was breathing heavily from fear, but I could still run.

To get to the city hall, I had to eventually reach the main street.

The main street was heavily populated with infected.

I had to get as close as possible without being seen.

Finally, I reached the side of the city hall, but the real challenge was getting to the main street.

The infected were slowly but surely closing in from behind.

I wished they would give up, but no matter how far I got, they stubbornly pursued me.

Suddenly, a voice reached my ears as I was about to make a desperate dash onto the main street.

It was a man’s deep shout and the screams of a man and a woman.

The infected on the main street were looking in the direction of the voices.

This might be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

I checked all around to make sure there were no infected nearby, then ran onto the main street and headed towards the city hall.

The screams seemed to be coming from the city hall.

A kind-looking man was on the awning in front of the lobby, and many infected were gathered below him.

Even if I went there, there was no hope of survival.

Looking towards the police station next door, I saw a rope ladder hanging from the second floor.

Inside the compound, I saw a man and a woman being chased by the infected.

They were both in their 20s.

The man was bleeding from his arm, and the woman was bleeding from her leg. The man with the machete was protecting the injured woman as they fled from the infected.

But they were quickly caught, and the infected swarmed over them.

The infected were focused on the “prey” in front of them.

...I could make it now.

My mind was surprisingly calm.

I immediately ran to the ladder and grabbed it.

In contrast to my calm mind, my body felt incredibly heavy as I climbed the ladder.

Perhaps it was the fear of being attacked by the infected from behind.

Or maybe it was the guilt of sacrificing strangers to save myself.

But I couldn’t afford to think about that, and I desperately moved my hands and feet.

“Ugh...”

My body was pulled strongly from below.

An infected had grabbed my leg.

With an incredible force, they were pulling me down, and I almost let go of the ladder.

Just one more step.

I had come this far, and I had sacrificed others to get this far.

I put all my strength into my hands gripping the ladder and pulled my leg up.

Despite the strong resistance, my shoe slipped out of the infected’s hand.

I hurriedly raised both legs to avoid being grabbed again and climbed up the ladder.

When I reached a position where their hands couldn’t reach me, I saw a man with a scruffy beard looking down at the blood-stained ground with a scary face from the window where the ladder was lowered.

+++++

After that, I was checked and safely taken to the shelter.

The man with the scruffy beard was named Oda, and he was the chief of the station.

According to Oda, I seemed to be the first person to successfully reach the shelter.

Everyone who had made it this far had died in front of the infected, like the man and woman below.

Even after I was sheltered, I saw many people being attacked and killed by the infected below.

Now, I wonder if I would have made it to the shelter if I had taken my backpack when I left the room.

The heavy backpack might have drained my energy, and I might not have been able to shake off the infected when they grabbed my leg on the ladder.

No, it was just that I had good luck at that moment.

I managed to reach here without being surrounded by infected, and those two people were there...

Yes, I was just lucky.