Bio Defense ~A City Built in a World That Has Ended~

Chapter 0: Prologue

“They’re almost here! Can’t we change their direction, Subaru?”

Through the earpiece, Kanata communicated with his comrades who were likely struggling on the front lines. He was on the roof of an unremarkable house in a residential area. From the roof of the single-story house, he gave instructions to his teammates of the 11th Division of the city’s defense force, while keeping an eye on the road in front of him.

A few sharp gunshots sounded from right next to him, and the infected in front of the road fell to the ground.

“Kanata, we’re running low on ammo. If we keep going at this rate, we won’t be able to hold them off.”

Yuzu, who was lying on the roof tiles and resting the barrel of her rifle on the ridge tile at the top of the roof, quickly replaced the magazine as she spoke.

The road in front was a branch from the national highway, and currently, a group of infected was moving along the highway.

The colony of infected, centered around a special individual called “Mother,” moved periodically and had the habit of following a roughly fixed route. This time, a colony that had been nesting in the northeast of No. 4 was observed moving. Normally, this colony would continue west along the highway, then turn north onto the bypass, and finally head northeast to return to its original position. That’s how it should have been. However, Dr. Kuishiro, who came from an institute that studied the infected, pointed out that the colony was exhibiting unusual behavior, so Kanata and the rest of the 11th Division were deployed to be on alert…

“Who would have thought they’d be heading towards the city… We have to do something to change their direction, or they’ll hit the city directly.”

“Kanata, they’re here again. What’s going on at the front line!?”

Yuzu, who was monitoring the road through the rifle scope, shouted. When Kanata hurriedly looked through the binoculars, he could indeed see them walking towards them after turning the corner.

“This time… it’s about ten of them…”

At that moment, a spectacular firework display went off on the highway. They had brought the fireworks to attract the attention of the infected and guide them, but Subaru had communicated earlier that they couldn’t get them to light due to poor storage conditions. It seemed they finally managed to light them.

“Hey, they’re coming this way! Kanata, what’s the situation on the highway?!”

As Kanata watched the strangely beautiful fireworks, he heard the sound of several people running, and a voice called up from below. It seemed the city’s support forces had arrived. When he looked down, his eyes met those of a woman looking up at him.

“Haruka? So the 6th Division has arrived. What about the other forces?”

“The other operations are overlapping, so there are fewer forces left in the city than usual. That’s why the 6th Division was called in at short notice. I saw the fireworks go off, but did you manage to change their direction?”

As Haruka asked, Kanata also heard a voice through his earpiece.

“Sorry! It took a while to get them to light. Eventually, Byakuren-san started a campfire and threw them in to light them. It seems like they’re back on the highway route as far as I can see from here. I’ll continue to guide them with Daigo. Byakuren-san said there were a few that turned off to the side. Be careful, I spotted a couple of Class 2 infected. I think they probably went that way.”

That was the report from Subaru, who was trying to guide the group of infected on the front line. It seemed the operation went mostly as planned, but a few ended up coming their way.

“Understood, be careful over there too. Well, there’s no need to wait here anymore. Let’s go out, take care of them, and get back quickly.”

Since the earpiece they were using allowed all team members to hear simultaneously, there was no need to repeat Kanata’s instructions to Yuzu, who was in shooting position.

He tapped her shoulder, and she stood up, shouldering her rifle again, as if she understood his intention.

Kanata climbed down the ladder he used to get up on the roof and relayed to Haruka what Subaru had said.

“So, it looks like we’ve managed to handle the situation for now. Once we take care of the ones coming this way, we should be fine.”

Before Kanata finished speaking, Haruka, who was following the 6th Division’s team members, started to run ahead.

“Haruka! Apparently, there are some Class 2 infected too. Be careful!”

He called out to Haruka, who had already started running without stopping, and she raised her right hand without turning back to signal that she understood.

“That girl… she’s planning to go without even taking a break after running all the way here.”

As he watched her back, Kanata muttered to himself, remembering. Come to think of it, she used to be on the track team, he thought.

Three years had passed since the world changed like this. Three years ago, Kanata, Haruka, Subaru, Daigo, and the others were all attending high school like normal.

The world was at peace, and Kanata thought that even after graduating from school, they would progress to college or get a job and continue living their everyday lives without much change.

No, maybe he didn’t even think about it. It was so commonplace that he didn’t even consider it…

At least the peaceful world that Kanata took for granted at the time was surprisingly easy to break. The area where people could live was still very limited, and most areas were still dominated by infected who wandered like zombies.

It all started with one infected person suddenly appearing in town one day, and now it seemed that there were more infected than non-infected.

Apart from the four cities built in Shikoku, it was unclear how many people were left in other areas.

The peaceful daily life easily transformed into a dangerous, extraordinary world. Kanata still remembered that day.

As he looked ahead, he saw Haruka and the others walking back, chatting, having dealt with the infected that were heading towards them. He felt a sense of relief that they were able to complete the mission without any casualties, and his thoughts drifted back to that day.