Chapter 64

Early morning.

I set out with Oda in a disaster response vehicle.

The other two passengers were a muscular, skinhead man and a bearded, stern-faced man, making a total of four of us, all inside the vehicle as we departed.

Today, we plan to take it easy and just check the conditions of the stores we pick up from.

However, the area is vast, so we plan to explore the north and south sides of the police station over two days. Of course, if we have the opportunity to transport supplies without any trouble along the way, we will do so.

"But you know, as he said, it seems that when people die, they really do turn into infected. It might be true."

The skinhead police officer sitting next to me in the back seat spoke up.

"Yeah. In that case, the Self-Defense Forces might have been wiped out when someone died by accident."

The bearded police officer in the passenger seat followed up.

"…Sorry for the late report. I just suddenly remembered it… I feel so helpless thinking about what could have happened if I had told the Self-Defense Forces."

"…Can't be helped. Don't worry so much. But Yanagi is a good person, so he might still feel bad. Just remembering it is a big help."

In fact, if he had seen it on the internet from the beginning, it would have been a terrible mistake, but Oda still offered words of comfort.

"We also collected a lot of information when the internet was still working. We never saw anything like that."

"Yeah. No one was talking about it, so it's no wonder Yanagi forgot about it."

The other two also offered words of encouragement to me.

In the end, the story that you turn into a zombie when you die became known to everyone after further questioning the dark-skinned, nose-pierced man.

There's no way to verify if it's true, but for now, we're treating it as fact and have reassigned the rooms accordingly.

To be honest, the police station's room assignments weren't that crowded to begin with, and there were no people with chronic illnesses, so there weren't many significant changes.

Kaede and Yuki also planned to stay in the same room as before.

"…Still, there seem to be fewer moving infected in this area."

Suddenly, Oda, who was driving, said this.

My heart pounded violently.

"And the cars are mostly parked on the side of the road."

"That's good, makes it easier to pass. It would be a big help if it's like this everywhere else."

Their casual words made my heart beat even faster.

This area is the route from the home center where Kaede was to the police station.

It's the result of my midnight work to transport Kaede.

"…For some reason, there are fewer of them around here. It helped me a lot."

"Speaking of which, Kaede said she was at the home center ahead."

"Yeah. Thanks to that, the move wasn't too difficult."

Today, we also plan to stop by the home center.

There's still a considerable amount of supplies left there.

If the number of zombies hasn't changed much since then, the four of us should be able to transport some.

When I brought Kaede out, I tidied up the store a bit, but I'll have to make do with that.

"Hey, that convenience store looks good."

While talking, Oda kept a close eye on the surroundings.

Not just the front and sides, but also the distance from the zombies we passed.

"If it looks bad inside, don't push it and come back right away."

With that, Oda parked the car in the parking lot.

+++++

Kicking the dirty body, I used the momentum to pull the axe out of its head, and the motionless zombie fell.

This is the home center where Kaede was.

On the way, we couldn't transport enough supplies, and there was no place as safe as the previous supermarket where we could do so.

Places where we could see inside from the outside, meaning glass-fronted areas, were broken, and if we couldn't see inside, it was risky to enter unless the location and zombie situation were particularly good.

In the end, because I had killed so many zombies when I was with Kaede, the number of zombies here was extremely low, and we decided to do our final supply run here today.

Thanks to the thorough cleaning I did when I brought Kaede out, the area around the home center was quiet.

Of course, some zombies had drifted in from somewhere, but there were only a few.

"Nice work, Yanagi."

The skinhead man next to me, holding a flashlight and a truncheon, said.

"Heh, did you serve in a special forces unit or something?"

The bearded man, smirking and keeping watch, followed up.

"I just did kendo when I was a kid… Is everything inside okay?"

In fact, I had been a samurai in another world, but it was true that I had attended a kendo class in a small town for a short time when I was in elementary school.

I chuckled, grateful that I didn't have to lie completely to cover it up.

We transported supplies, mainly water, from the camping gear section.

This was because the water tank at the police station had finally run dry.

With water, we could cook rice, and the food situation would be manageable.

Although, there was still a fair amount of water in stock.

After making several trips to and from the car, which was parked with the cargo area facing the entrance, Oda's instructions came over the radio.

"They're gathering. Hurry back and get in the cargo area directly. You can even drop the supplies you're carrying."

Oda was talking about the zombies that had been chasing us during the drive.

I thought we had a bit more time, but apparently not.

The three of us followed the instructions, ran quickly, and got into the cargo area, then left the home center.

Today's supply run didn't go as well as we had hoped.

But it's not a problem.

When we explore the area later, everyone will surely be satisfied.