I looked out the bathroom window. Rows of trees, no birds, no traffic. Just wind brushing against the leaves. I thought about running.
I pushed the door open slowly and stepped into the hallway. The house creaked. My hands were shaking, but I moved anyway. I didn't want to believe it was those creatures but the cop I saw, he wasn't dead when he started biting that man. I saw him move. I saw his eyes.
I went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. It was the best I could find. Light, thin, too short. I kept walking. It was just past 9 a.m. Mizuki was probably out already, past the ridge or checking the main road. I hadn't seen her since last night. Maybe she left me behind.
I walked down the narrow trail. Every sound made me flinch, dry leaves, a bird wing, branches rubbing together. My throat was dry, but I still had a bottle of water in my bag. I wiped sweat off my neck and kept going.
I thought about my parents. I hadn't heard from them in three days. What if they were fine? What if the city was still normal, and all of this was just here?
"What the hell are you doing?!"
I turned fast. Mizuki stood behind me. Her eyes were wide, angry.
"I told you to stay at the house and clean."
"I was looking for you."
She grabbed my collar, pulled me forward.
"You idiot."
She pinched my ear, hard. I winced and tried to pull away.
"Ow! Stop—"
"I don't even know you. But you're not infected, that's the only reason I'm helping."
"You can let me go. I'll figure it out."
She snapped. "You won't survive two hours without me. You don't get it, do you?"
"I just want to find my parents—"
"They're dead."
She shouted it like it was a fact.
I froze. Then I saw movement behind her.
A man stepped out of the trees. Black ski mask, gloves, baseball bat in hand.
"Drop the knife."
Mizuki turned fast, her body tense. She stared him down.
"You drop it."
Two more figures appeared behind him. All in ski masks. Hoodies. Tall, strong. The one in front grinned under the mask.
"There's three of us. Drop it."
I froze. I raised my hands. The knife clattered to the ground.
Mizuki didn't move.
Then she ran straight at him. A low jump, fast, she kicked but the man caught her leg in midair, grunting. She twisted and elbowed him in the face.
I turned to run.
I barely made it five steps before something hit my leg. I fell hard, face-first into the dirt. I tasted mud.
I tried to get up, but a heavy boot pressed down between my shoulder blades.
I couldn't move.
The boot stayed on my back.
Mizuki hit the man again, but he was faster this time. He shoved her hard, and she stumbled onto the ground beside me. Dirt smeared her cheek. She didn't even flinch.
One of the masked men pulled her up by the collar. "You've got training, huh? That was a good kick."
She spit in his face. He didn't react, just wiped it off with the sleeve of his jacket.
The leader stepped forward. His mask had a small red stripe over the eyehole. He looked down at me, then at Mizuki.
"Nice house you got," he said, calm. "Saw it on the ridge earlier. Good walls. Solar panel. Water tanks."
"You're not getting in," Mizuki snapped.
"You think this is a negotiation?"
He looked back at the others. One of them already had my bag open, pulling out the water bottle, my flashlight.
The third one crouched beside Mizuki. "Let us in. You can stay alive. Don't make it harder than it has to be."
Mizuki's jaw tightened. "I'll burn it down before I let scum like you touch anything."
Red-stripe guy chuckled. "Then we take it, and you burn with it. Up to you."
I swallowed hard. My throat was too dry to speak. I wanted to crawl away, but the boot pressed harder.
"Your little brother?" the crouching man asked, nodding at me.
"No."
"Doesn't matter. He comes too."
They pulled us both up. I stumbled. My knees were shaking. Mizuki didn't resist, but her fists were tight. Her eyes kept scanning their positions.
One of them slapped duct tape onto my mouth. My panic spiked. I tried to yell, but it came out muffled.
"Let him breathe," Mizuki said, low and cold.
"No noise," the leader said. "We walk. Nice and easy. You show us the path."
Mizuki didn't move.
The man with the bat swung it once, just missing her leg.
She flinched. Not from fear, just calculation. Then she started walking.
I followed, stumbling behind them. I couldn't stop shaking.
The woods closed in again, but this time the air felt even heavier. Like something had already ended.
Mizuki in front, the red-stripe guy behind her, the other two flanking me. My hands were tied behind my back now, wrists raw.
The duct tape was still on my mouth. I couldn't speak, only listen.
The path started to slope down, weeds thickening along rusted fences. A faded sign poked out of the overgrowth
Closed years ago. The train where I first saw her.
Mizuki kept walking.
"This ain't the path to the house," one of them said behind her.
She didn't answer.
"You take us the long way?"
Still no answer.
We stepped through a bent gate. The concrete of the station platform had cracked open in places. Nature was taking it back.
A smashed timetable fluttered in the breeze. The tracks were sunken and dry.
"Yo. This doesn't look like a solar-powered house."
Red-stripe tilted his head. "You stalling?"
Mizuki stopped at the edge of the platform. "We're here."
They looked around.
"You think this is funny?"
She turned slowly, calm. Her eyes didn't blink.
"Look behind the ticket booth."
One of the masked men moved cautiously. He peeked in. Then stepped back.
"Shit."
A sound echoed from the dark, a low dragging of limbs. Slow breathing, flesh sliding on tile.
The zombie stepped out. Once a man, clothes rotted to threads. Part of his jaw gone, one eye milky. The stench hit hard. Decay and blood.
The leader froze.
His breath caught in his throat. This was real, he wanted to scream but the duct tape stayed on.
Mizuki moved fast.
She grabbed the creature by the collar, yanked it forward, and held it between her and the looters. Her arm was wrapped in a thick sleeve, a jacket from her bag, now tied tight like armor.
"Back off," she said. "I'll let it go. I swear to god I will."
The zombie gurgled and snapped its teeth, swaying in her grip.
The men didn't move.
Red-stripe tilted his head again, eyes unreadable under the mask.
"That's your plan?"
"You think I'm bluffing?"
One of them chuckled.
"You trained, yeah. But that thing? It's not gonna eat us clean. It'll infect us. One scratch, and it's over. You know that, right?"
"I do," Mizuki said.
Her voice was cold. Real.
"No one's immune. Not even you."
They didn't look scared. But they stopped moving.
She tightened her grip on the thing's collar. It hissed, teeth gnashing inches from her arm.
His legs were trembling.
This wasn't like the news. It wasn't like the videos, the thing moved. It breathed. It wanted.
Mizuki stared them down.
"Last warning," she said.
They stared back, unreadable.
Tension pressed into the air. The only sound was the zombie's wheezing, a low rasp from somewhere deeper than its lungs.
Then Red-stripe finally spoke.
"Interesting move."
He gave a small nod.
"Let's talk."