A familiar and eerie growl suddenly echoed right beside him.

Aki Tomoya turned his head instinctively and froze.

Just a meter away, a lifeless figure stood with slumped shoulders. Its skin was pale and taut, mouth gaping wide as it let out a guttural, inhuman moan. Drool dripped from its lips, and the muscles on its face twitched uncontrollably. Its dull, gray eyes locked straight onto him.

Tomoya couldn't even react before it lunged.

"AHHH!"

The zombie tackled him to the ground, pinning him under its decaying weight. His scream was the very picture of despair, like a wilting flower screaming against a storm.

The stench of rot and blood overwhelmed him. He never thought his first time being pinned down by another man would be like this especially a zombie.

Its breath reeked of death, its yellowed teeth snapping just inches from his face. His mind went blank. One thought dominated.

I'm dead. This is it. I'm going to die.

Then.

BANG!

A thunderous crack split the air. The zombie's body stiffened above him, followed by a blast of black mist and something cold and wet splattering across his face. It reeked of decay and clung to his skin.

"Guh..."

Tomoya shoved the now-limp corpse off him, sat up, and instinctively wiped his face. His hand came back smeared with something thick, dark, and sticky zombie brain matter.

Worse than spinach diarrhea.

"Urgh!"

He doubled over, clutching his stomach, gagging hard. But just then, a voice rang out nearby.

"Wait! Don't throw up! That stuff's on your face! If it gets in your mouth, you might end up just like that thing!"

He froze.

The urge to vomit clawed at his throat, but he swallowed it down with a groan, forcing himself to breathe through his nose. His chest heaved as he slowly looked up.

On top of a nearby Humvee, a chubby boy peered over a sniper rifle still smoking from the shot.

"You saw the zombie before I did!" Tomoya shouted angrily. "Why didn't you shoot sooner?! Do you know how close I was to getting bitten?!"

The boy pointed at himself, blinking. "Wait, are you yelling at me?"

He looked wounded. "I thought you'd be grateful I saved you."

He adjusted his glasses, the sun glinting sharply off the right lens as he raised the rifle again, speaking like a man possessed.

"This is the Armalite AR-110(T), a customized Knight's SR-25 semi-auto sniper rifle. 1118mm overall length. 4.88 kilograms. 20-round mag. Fires 7.62x51mm NATO rounds."

"I haven't fired it much, but every shot so far's been a clean headshot. Clearly, I was born for this. And from ten meters away?" He smirked. "Missing isn't even on the table."

Tomoya was still reeling from the specs dump when the boy suddenly swung the rifle toward him.

"And just so we're clear," the boy said coldly, "if I didn't shoot right away, it's because I didn't want to. Got a problem with that?"

Problem?

Tomoya's entire body stiffened.

What problem?

Absolutely no problem!

He shook his head so fast he looked like a bobblehead in a typhoon.

Saeko Busujima exhaled slowly from the Humvee's passenger seat. Some people just expected others to save them and never thought twice about it.

She turned away from Tomoya. "Get in. We're moving out. That noise just now will attract more of them."

"Yes, senpai!"

"Got it, senpai!"

Megumi Kato nodded and climbed into the Humvee. She glanced at Tomoya one last time, her expression unreadable, before closing the door.

With a growl of the engine and a screech of tires, the Humvee shot off like an arrow, vanishing into the distance.

Tomoya was left behind.

"…So what if they've got guns."

He kicked the side of a parked car hard enough to leave a dent.

"GRRRAHH!"

Something inside lunged, slamming against the window. A zombie.

Tomoya stumbled back, heart in his throat. When he realized the creature was locked inside, his fear morphed into rage.

"Seriously? Growling at me now? You wanna go?!"

The zombie thrashed against the glass, jaws snapping as it tried to claw its way out.

Tomoya sneered. "Tch. If that window wasn't in the way, I'd show you…"

But a glance around reminded him there was no weapon nearby.

The zombie's twisted grin pressed against the glass, as if mocking him.

"Fine. Lucky day for you."

Tomoya turned to leave then stopped.

In the distance, shambling silhouettes began to appear, drawn by the gunshot and the earlier noise.

"I can't go back now."

He looked around quickly and darted toward an empty side street.

Ten meters. Twenty.

He ran like he'd never run before, lungs burning but adrenaline keeping him upright.

Then he broke through the alley only to freeze in horror.

Across the main road, an ocean of bodies turned in unison.

Zombies.

Hundreds. Maybe thousands.

A tsunami of death.

"Crap… This is bad."

His legs buckled. He fell, scrambled back up. His forehead was soaked with cold sweat.

They were coming.

The roar of their groans, the pounding of their feet it was like the world's worst concert, and he was the star act.

"Zombie tide…!"

He could barely breathe.

If they caught him, he'd be eaten alive.

"AHHH!"

In that moment, something snapped.

Tomoya exploded into motion, running as if death itself were chasing him because it was.

He screamed at the top of his lungs.

"ZOMBIE TIDE! AHHH! ZOMBIE TIDE!"

The school bus might still be usable. He didn't have a car. Couldn't drive anyway.

All he had were two legs and a voice.

But if he warned the others, if he bought them time to escape…

Maybe he'd be forgiven.

He'd messed up before but now?

Now he was going to be a hero.

Tomoya's eyes burned with determination.

Let's do this.

Outrun death itself.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Oh, you like the story? Wow, who knew. Go ahead, drop a review and throw some power stones maybe I'll be motivated to keep going.

The story's already ahead on Patron. Go there if you want to catch up faster!

[email protected]/_theon

Change @ to "a"