"We are arriving shortly," Riku said as he glanced at the navigation app. It displayed a purple route nearing its end, with only five minutes remaining. His eyes lingered on the little blue arrow inching its way through the streets of Setagaya.
So far, so good—except for the part where they had just plowed through a sprinting horde of undead. The SUV's bumper was stained red, and the tires still carried grime from the run-over corpses. But they were alive. That's all that mattered.
"Mama… Papa…" Miko whispered, her voice strained with emotion as she stared out the window. Her hands were clenched tightly over her phone. Her legs bounced restlessly on the floorboard, her nerves eating her alive.
"Can you try and contact them?" Riku asked, eyes still focused on the road ahead.
Miko immediately brought her phone to life and redialed her mother's number. Her thumb hovered nervously over the screen as the call connected.
Ringing…
Ringing…
Still ringing.
Her heart thumped in her chest. Each second stretched longer than the last.
No response.
"I'll try again," Miko muttered, her fingers trembling as she redialed the number. The line buzzed softly in her ear, the sound agonizingly long.
Ringing…
Still ringing…
Nothing.
She lowered the phone slowly, her lips parting as if to say something—but no words came out.
Riku glanced sideways at her. "Still nothing?"
She shook her head silently.
His jaw tightened, but he said nothing more. Instead, his grip on the steering wheel firmed as the SUV continued rolling through the streets of Seijo.
The deeper they went into the neighborhood, the worse it looked.
Trash bags were torn open. Car doors swung ajar. Curtains flapped wildly in broken windows. Some homes were untouched, their doors tightly shut, while others looked like warzones—walls painted with blood, doors ripped off the hinges, and furniture scattered across the front yards.
Then they saw them.
Dozens.
No—hundreds.
Zombies poured out from alleyways and intersections ahead. Some were running. Others limped, but all were heading straight toward the sound of the approaching engine.
They had arrived.
"Shit," Riku muttered under his breath. He slammed his foot on the accelerator.
The SUV roared forward like a beast unleashed.
Miko gasped as the first wave of undead slammed into the hood with sickening crunches and thuds. The windshield splattered red as bodies were flung aside like ragdolls.
THUMP—THUMP—CRUNCH—
"Don't look!" Riku barked, eyes focused and cold. "Keep your head down!"
Miko ducked, clutching the dashboard with white knuckles as the vehicle rammed through another line of zombies. The car jolted and rocked violently. Bones cracked beneath the tires. One particularly large infected slammed against the passenger side window and latched on, snarling and pounding its bloodied fists against the glass.
Another leaped from a parked car rooftop and clung to the side mirror, its jaw snapping wildly.
"Fuck off!" Riku shouted.
He reached down, yanked the Glock 17 from his thigh holster with one hand, and fired out the open driver-side window—PFFT-PFFT!
Two clean shots struck the clinger in the face, blasting it backward into the pavement.
The one on the side mirror began clawing at the door.
Riku twisted in his seat and aimed across Miko's side.
PFFT!
The bullet punched through its eye, splattering the glass with gore.
It fell limp and slid down the door with a smear.
"Are you okay?!" he yelled.
"I—I'm fine!" Miko's voice was shaking. Her head was still down, but she didn't scream. She held it together. Barely.
"We're close," Riku said, eyes flicking to the GPS. "Your house should be just around the bend—"
Then he saw it.
Down the street, at the end of a short incline, stood Miko's family home. A modern two-story house, elegant and pristine, or at least it used to be. Now, it looked like every other house on the block—windows cracked, the gate ajar, the walls painted in grime and blood.
But what caught his attention was the mass.
Zombies surrounded the entire front yard. At least thirty of them. Maybe more. Some were slamming against the gate. Others wandered the driveway, sniffing the air like animals. And more were coming from every direction, drawn by the noise of the SUV's engine and the chaos that followed it.
"There's too many…" Miko whispered.
Riku's jaw clenched. "Hold on."
He floored it.
The SUV shot down the incline, engine howling as the tires tore through the street. The zombies turned—some too slow to react.
The first wave hit the hood again.
CRUNCH—THUD—SMASH!
They exploded against the metal like ragdolls, flying in all directions.
Riku plowed through them, trying to keep his foot on the gas, but more and more kept coming. They were denser here, like a swarm of ants spilling from a crushed nest. Their bodies piled up in front of the bumper, slowing the vehicle down.
"Come on… come on…" he growled, pushing harder on the pedal.
But then—
BANG!
The front right of the SUV slammed into a leaning lamppost, hidden by the crowd. The pole bent inward, and the vehicle jolted violently to the side.
Riku's head slammed against the window. Miko screamed.
The car stalled.
"Shit—!"
Steam hissed from under the hood. The dashboard blinked red.
They weren't going anywhere now.
Riku shook his head, regaining focus, and immediately reached back for his M4A1.
He popped the door open and stepped out into the open.
Zombies were everywhere.
Some had already begun crawling over the car.
He took aim.
PFFT—PFFT—PFFT—
The suppressed carbine spat death in short, controlled bursts.
Heads snapped back. Bodies dropped.
A dozen rounds later, the car was clear—temporarily.
"Miko, stay inside," Riku ordered sharply. "Keep your head down. I'll clear them out."
Riku advanced slowly, methodically, like a trained operator sweeping a kill zone.
His boots crunched over shards of glass and broken bone as he moved to the front of the SUV, clearing the area immediately surrounding it.
From the corner of his eye, he saw a biter sprinting in from the left flank—blood smeared across its mouth, arms wide, feet slapping the pavement.
PFFT!
Right between the eyes.
Another groaned from behind a hedge, pushing through the leaves with gnashing teeth. Riku pivoted and planted two rounds in its face before it could fully emerge.
That was the last one in his mag.
He let the M4 hang by its sling, and in one smooth motion, drew the Glock 17 from his thigh holster.
PFFT—PFFT—PFFT!
The sidearm barked through the silence, punching through skull after skull. The suppressor helped mask the shots, but the muzzle flashes lit up Riku's determined expression with every squeeze of the trigger.
The barrel smoked as he fired the final round—click.
He ejected the magazine and slapped in a new one, all while walking forward.
Another pair of zombies lunged at him near the open gate of Miko's house. They moved fast. Too fast.
He holstered the Glock.
And drew the tomahawk.
The first zombie reached him—
THUNK!
Riku buried the tomahawk in its temple, yanked it out, then twisted to the right and slashed clean through the second's jaw. It collapsed at his feet, twitching.
A third tried to grab him from behind.
He spun and drove the spike end of the tomahawk straight into its eye socket with a wet crunch.
He pulled it free, took two more steps, and with a savage yell, cleaved through the neck of another infected charging straight at him.
The head rolled. The body dropped.
Riku stood in the middle of the yard now, surrounded by fallen corpses. His chest rose and fell with calm, controlled breaths. Blood dripped from the blade in his hand. Shell casings glinted in the dirt around him.
But he wasn't done yet.
More were coming from the other side of the street—drawn by the noise.
"Come on, you bastards," Riku muttered.
He raised the M4A1 again, now reloaded.
PFFT—PFFT—PFFT!
Three more fell.
Inside the SUV, Miko watched in awe, hand pressed against the window.
Something cold, precise, and unshakably heroic in the way Riku moved.
He was just a high school student yet he moved like a trained soldier.
Riku stepped over a body near the porch and glanced back toward the SUV.
"All clear," he called out. "You can get out now."
Miko stepped out of the car and then quickly rushed towards.
"That's your house right?" Riku asked.
Miko stared at her house and her eyes widened in shock.
"Riku…the door's open."