Jobless Man’s Zombie Survival Life - Chapter 107: The Eastern Settlement

Chapter 107: The Eastern Settlement

“Um… yesterday, I’m sorry for causing you trouble…”

Kanzaki-san sits seiza-style on the tatami, looking deeply apologetic.

Sakura tilts her head curiously, watching her.

She’s so serious… she doesn’t need to worry about it.

※

After the shocking events in the western settlement, Kanzaki-san returned and sobbed in my arms.

She cried for a while, seeming to regain her composure.

Seeming to, but afterward, she was out of it, taking a bath and skipping dinner to sleep.

I took Sakura, who watched her worriedly, and laid out a futon in the second-floor hallway to sleep.

I wanted to let her rest alone.

She’s a skilled SDF member, but she’s still a younger girl.

That park must’ve been her first time seeing something like that.

I was pretty shaken too, but Kanzaki-san helped me stay calm.

If I’d been alone, thinking about what I might’ve done scares me.

I’d probably have gone hunting for those bastards.

Found them and sent them to hell.

…That feeling’s still there.

But I’m not foolish enough to rush in without a plan now.

They’re likely a large group armed with bows.

If they shot all at once, I’d be a pincushion.

Charging in to slaughter them… only a legendary swordsman or my master could pull that off.

Maybe that one Vietnam vet too.

So, I spent the night brooding.

Morning came, and when I went downstairs to make breakfast, this scene unfolded.

Man, she’s already cooking again… probably as an apology.

“It’s fine, don’t worry. That was understandable.”

“B-But…”

“Haha, I’ve been caught crying tons of times, haven’t I?”

I teared up a lot over Miku-chan.

And Shin and Shiho-chan too.

“So don’t sweat it. Come on, let’s eat and tackle today with energy, yeah?”

Right, Sakura? I say cheerfully.

“Wan!”

Sakura’s always so lively and healing.

“Yes… um, Tanakano-san.”

“Yeah?”

“Thank you… so much.”

Kanzaki-san says shyly.

“My pleasure.”

Her words feel dazzling, and I reply.

※

“I’m craving fruit… maybe I’ll look in the mountains.”

I mutter while eating our usual delicious breakfast.

“Like wild peaches?”

Oops, I didn’t mean for her to hear my mumbling.

“Oh, yeah. This time of year… what’s around? Man, I should’ve brought that book from Shiiya.”

I’m missing sweetness from fruit, not sugar.

Well, we need to secure this area first.

Gotta work hard to take Sakura to the mountains.

“Phew, thanks for the meal.”

“You’re welcome, hehe.”

Good.

Kanzaki-san seems back to her old self.

She’s petting Sakura at her feet with her usual rapid-fire pats.

“So, we’re scouting the eastern settlement today… Kanzaki-san, you okay? We might see something like yesterday.”

“I’m fine. I’ve moved past it. Besides, you’d go even if I didn’t, right?”

“Well, yeah…”

She saw right through me.

I was thinking of going quick if it’d be tough for her.

Leave Sakura to her.

“That won’t do. This is my mission. Yesterday was a shock, but having you there makes me feel stronger.”

“Ha, if someone like me’s enough.”

A close-combat-only reliable Pokémon?

“That’s enough… hehe.”

She looks happy for some reason.

Well, whatever.

If Kanzaki-san’s back to normal, that’s good.

Sakura looks happy too.

Oh, crap.

I just remembered I promised Sakura a walk yesterday.

Wasn’t in the mood after that… sorry, Sakura.

I’ll play with her wholeheartedly before scouting.

※

“On! Wooo!”

With Sakura’s howls from beyond the gate, we set out to scout.

Was that a send-off? Cute little thing.

Thanks to running around the compound after breakfast, Sakura’s in great spirits.

Gotta take her for that walk tonight…

“Let’s go.”

“Yes!”

Kanzaki-san’s pumped too—perfect.

Here we go!

I was all fired up, but it’s the countryside.

So peaceful.

There are houses here and there, all empty, no signs of people.

The eastern settlement has various facilities, but the closest is the fire station.

Normally, it’d be a shelter, but…

The map shows it’s tiny.

Half the size of Takayanagi Transport.

Well, for a former village’s fire station, that’s about right.

Let’s start there.

We walk, checking the same old empty houses.

No signs of looting.

…No raiders?

Weird, then what was that in the western settlement?

Wait, there wasn’t looting there either…

Ugh, the mystery deepens.

※

“Well, damn…”

“This is…”

At the fire station, we find an overturned fire truck.

And a towering pile of zombies.

They’re clearly zombies since they don’t rot.

Roughly over fifty.

None moving.

Each has massive wounds, like they were gouged out.

No human corpses…

“What the hell’s going on… I can’t make sense of this.”

The ones who massacred the western settlement?

…No, they used bows.

Another group?

“…”

As I ponder, Kanzaki-san approaches the zombie pile.

She inspects a corpse.

Does she see something?

“…These zombies were all taken out by guns.”

“Guns? Is the police nearby?”

“No, this is…”

Kanzaki-san picks something up from the ground.

A small metal tube… a spent casing.

There are quite a few scattered around.

I was too focused on the zombies to notice.

“Not police issue.”

“Huh… then, like, gangsters or yakuza?”

“They’re all the same caliber. And these are powerful military rounds… No SDF units are deployed nearby, so this is likely…”

Suddenly, I recall a scene from Shiiya.

“Those foreign troops in Shiiya…?”

The ones dissecting zombies.

“That’s my guess. I don’t know their goal, but they’re here too.”

Damn, the unknowns just keep piling up.

Mass murderers and mysterious foreign troops.

…Looks like it’s hardcore mode here, Ooki-kun.

For now, we move on.

Since zombies don’t rot, we don’t know when this happened.

They might still be nearby.

From what we saw before, they weren’t exactly rushing to save lives.

We leave the fire station.

Nothing worth seeing, no usable supplies.

The fire truck’s wrecked, and the fuel’s gone.

Next up, the supermarket.

※

As expected, most houses are empty.

If anyone’s here, it’s just elderly zombies.

We’re not checking every house inside, so we might miss something.

I took out one wandering elderly zombie.

It was slow and sluggish—easy.

These are simpler to handle than regular zombies.

Soon, the supermarket comes into view.

Bigger than the western settlement’s, with a wider lot—national chain, alright.

From behind a car in the lot, I scope the store with my monocular.

…Yup, just elderly zombies.

No living humans in sight.

“Guess the zombie outbreak hit here around midday on a weekday too.”

“Yes, seems so.”

We know it happened simultaneously everywhere…

But how do people just turn into zombies?

From what I’ve learned and Kanzaki-san’s said, it’s almost certainly true.

…Ugh, forget it.

No point thinking about it.

No reason to stay, so let’s move.

By the way, this area has a lot of clean abandoned vehicles.

I’ll list them for gas siphoning.

We’ve got plenty, but more never hurts.

※

Walking along, I spot a sign for “Harano Branch Office.”

The town hall… wonder how it’s doing.

We approach, hiding in the shadows.

Being near the town hall, there are slightly more buildings.

Gotta watch for zombies.

“Wow… now I get why there’re no young people here.”

The area’s swarming with young zombies.

“Looks like this was the initial shelter…”

Kanzaki-san mutters behind me.

Collapsed tents.

Scattered supplies.

Body parts everywhere.

Dried, blackened bloodstains.

You can easily imagine the disaster.

The parking lot’s a mess, and the two-story town hall’s in shambles.

Every window’s shattered.

The front entrance’s door is destroyed, and it’s packed with zombies.

Total devastation.

Lots of zombies in suits and work clothes—staff, probably?

Mostly young zombies, and no reason to be here.

No survivors, obviously.

“Kanzaki-san, any business at the town hall?”

“No, it’s irrelevant to scouting. Later units will handle document recovery.”

Above all, fighting this many zombies would be tough.

We could whittle them down while evading, but there’s no reward.

Time to move.

We slip away quietly to avoid detection.

※

The last major facility is the abandoned school at the edge of the eastern settlement.

Slim chance, but it’s the only building bigger than Takayanagi Transport.

Survivors might be hiding there.

Not keen on getting involved, but we need to scout.

On the way, we spot a police outpost.

Right, a village would have one.

Let’s check.

I brace myself, open the door… huh?

It’s locked.

Oh, no patrol car in the lot.

Out on duty?

The family living quarters in the back are silent too.

“They evacuated with the family?”

“We haven’t seen a patrol car, so they probably went to Ryugu City.”

Man, this scouting’s feeling like a waste of time.

Probably because the population was low to begin with.

Well, fewer zombies means later SDF units will have an easier time.

…Whenever they show up.

Let’s head to the school.

We pass through more empty or zombie-only houses.

Maybe from yesterday, but parks make me tense now.

This one’s peaceful, though.

I’d love to bring Sakura.

The residential area ends, and we reach an open space.

Abandoned fields on both sides.

Ahead… the school.

Surrounded by fields, standing alone.

From here, the gate and walls block the view.

I can only see the rooftop and… third floor, maybe?

It’s a bit far, so that’s all with the naked eye.

No cover around, so we’d be fully exposed.

Not thrilled about walking up.

We backtrack and pick a house.

This one’s three stories—perfect.

I climb the wall, take a short run, and jump to the second-floor roof.

Whoa! Almost slipped.

Close call—breaking a leg here would suck.

I grab the third-floor roof and pull myself up, catching my breath.

Kanzaki-san climbs up smoothly, like it’s nothing.

So cool.

I wanna be that slick.

I peek from the roof, a blind spot to the school, and raise my monocular.

I take off my helmet to avoid reflections.

Getting spotted after all this would make me an idiot.

I peer at the school.

…Barbed wire’s wrapped around the gate.

Human work.

No school’s designed like that.

Several cars are parked in the courtyard.

They don’t look abandoned.

Fresh tire tracks under them.

Survivors, likely.

Oh, people in the courtyard!

Three… men, chatting.

First living humans in a while.

“Kanzaki-san, look, survivors…”

“The corner…”

“Huh?”

“The courtyard’s corner… the right side.”

Kanzaki-san’s voice sounds stunned.

What’s that?

Right corner of the courtyard…

…!?

※

In the courtyard’s corner, burn marks and a pile of corpses.

Women, kids, elderly… varied, but few young men.

All pierced with arrows.

Could it be…

“…The same ones from the western settlement?”

The words slip out.

The three men walk to the corpses.

They start pulling arrows, chatting and laughing.

Sometimes they burst out, reacting to a joke or something.

Like harvesting vegetables, they collect arrows.

One arrow’s stuck deep, so a guy steps on a child’s corpse to yank it out.

Out of spite or whatever, he shouts and kicks the body.

His buddies laugh, clapping.

My teeth grind audibly.

My gut burns.

Anger makes my neck hairs stand.

“…We need to confirm more. Those corpses might be zombies.”

I say it slowly, convincing myself.

I want to storm in and wreak havoc, but scouting comes first.

They might just be survivors clearing zombies.

“…Yes.”

Kanzaki-san feels the same.

Her lips are white from biting.

※

We keep watching from the roof.

There are about twenty people in the school.

Besides the three in the courtyard, we spot others in the gym and school building.

Curtained classrooms and blind spots mean at least that many.

Mostly young men, but some young women too.

At first, I thought they were captives, but they seem friendly with the men.

Chatting happily.

Without the corpses, it’d look like a college camping trip.

The corpses make their abnormality stand out.

After a while, movement.

Some men drag corpses to the courtyard.

What’re they doing…?

Being closer now, I see things I wish I didn’t.

Probably… not zombies.

A middle-school-aged girl and boy.

No head wounds.

Zombies don’t die from body wounds…

The men cheerfully tie the corpses upright to a horizontal bar in the courtyard.

Two women run to a parked car and grab something.

…Lots of parts attached.

Archery bows, those.

The men’s bows aren’t Japanese or archery bows.

What are they?

Like in medieval European action movies…

The men prop a blackboard against a car.

It reads “Mayu,” “Kimi,” and “Points” below.

The corpses’ names?

Two women stand on a white line in the courtyard, cheerfully aiming at their targets…

…Goddamn it.

I don’t want to say more.

The men cheer or groan at the results, having a blast.

They eagerly jot scores on the blackboard, making a racket.

…Heads seem to be high points.

I feel sick.

Scumbags.

“…No doubt. They’re the ones from the western settlement.”

“Indeed.”

If they’re different, it just means more targets to crush.

No problem.

No problem at all.

“…Let’s take them out, Kanzaki-san. Leaving them alive won’t end well.”

Kanzaki-san nods silently, tears in her eyes.

Our job’s scouting, but we can handle that number.

If we leave them, they’ll hunt farther out.

Given the location, they might hit Shiiya.

…That’s just an excuse.

I just can’t stand it.

Them breathing right now is unbearable.

I’ll send them all to hell.

Muttering at the gleeful bastards through the monocular.

“You’ve been doing whatever you want, huh? Then you can’t complain if I… do whatever I want.”

I glare through the monocular, pouring every ounce of killing intent into them.