Volume 1 - Chapter 30

Reunion Time

I drove the mountain road, heart pounding in my chest.

The weight of uncertainty pressed down on me, making it hard to breathe. I figured if Aiko wasn't alive, I had no reason to keep going.

The idea of returning to the Zag Zag and sacrificing myself to the undead was still very much a possibility.

My knuckles turned white as I gripped the steering wheel tighter, trying to focus on the road ahead. We turned left to go over the bridge where we shot dozens of zombies just one day earlier.

I took a deep breath, trying to calm my racing thoughts. I reminded myself that I needed to stay strong for Aiko and all my new friends. They were counting on me to help make sure they lived another day.

But the fear was threatening to overwhelm.

I could feel it gnawing at the edges of my mind, threatening to consume me. I tried to push it away, but it was like trying to hold back a tidal wave with my bare hands.

As we rounded the last curve on the mountain road, I caught a glimpse of the driveway, and of Aiko's house up ahead. My heart thumped even louder as Ryotaro's van blocked my view.

We slowed down. Some relief hit me when I saw the other van already parked in the driveway.

Off to my right I saw Chiemi standing near the cute little shed. The older woman had one of the rifles in her hands. She remained there but watched as we pulled into the long driveway.

I found that very interesting, and I wondered what the woman was doing.

Mio stepped out onto the porch, eyes wide with surprise. She quickly ducked back in, only to reemerge a few seconds later with Aiko. Both women carried baseball bats and had mixed expressions of happiness and anger.

My heart leaped at the sight of Aiko, and I felt a wave of relief wash over me. I watched as Ryotaro and Haru exited the van, and I followed suit.

Aiko's gaze locked onto mine. The concern in her eyes didn't fade away, and she started looking me over.

Aiko asked, "Were you bit or scratched?"

"No."

She walked towards me, the grip on her baseball bat loosening. I could see her scanning my shirtless body, looking for any injuries.

"You have blood all over you."

"Bloody nose and a long story," I said, trying to relax now that I knew this beautiful woman was safe. "I'm so glad you're alive."

The women were more cautious with Ryotaro. I saw them falter when he stepped around the van. He hadn't removed his bulletproof vest, and the old man's shirt was stained dark red from his nosebleed.

"And you?" Aiko pointed the bat towards him. "Nosebleed?"

Ryotaro nodded. "I was picking my boogers too hard and blood gushed everywhere."

I laughed loudly, startling Mio. The women shook their heads. I knew they were pretending not to find his answer funny, because Aiko was fighting back a smirk.

When she looked at me again, she had a beautiful smile. Aiko dropped the bat and wrapped her arms around me. We kissed passionately, finally accepting that I was safe.

Mio said, "and you must be Haru."

Aiko let go of me and turned to join Mio as they looked at the boy.

"Oh, the boy, Haru." Aiko said. "What happened to Genta?"

"That's part of our long story involving the nosebleeds."

Aiko raised an eyebrow but didn't answer.

She looked back towards the boy and stepped closer, her gaze softening as she looked him over.

"Are you okay?" she asked, her voice gentle.

Haru nodded, his eyes wide as he took in the group of strangers surrounding him.

"Yep," the boy said, pointing at Ryotaro. "That man gave me sugar, and I'm only supposed to have that on weekends."

Mio stepped forward, a grin playing at the corners of her mouth. "Come on, let's get you inside."

The boy hesitated for a moment before he took her hand, allowing her to lead him towards the house.

Aiko watched them go, her expression thoughtful. Then she turned to me and Ryotaro.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"Guilty. You caught me!" the old man shrugged, and Aiko shook her head.

I had never seen a woman so beautiful. Words couldn't express how I wanted to just hold her for all of time.

Alas, I knew we had to talk about our survival in this new zombie-filled world.

"So what happened with Genta?" she asked.

I took a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves. I wasn't sure how to begin my story, so I glanced at Ryotaro.

"I'm still not feeling well, so you better go over the whole thing."

I nodded, understanding. Ryotaro held up extremely well considering his age. That was my opinion anyway. I was still in my twenties and I barely survived Genta's chaotic mind aura.

"I'll start from exactly when we left Zag Zag," I replied, my voice barely above a whisper. "But first, why didn't you answer the radio?"

Aiko instantly looked away. "Battery died. I may have accidentally left it on, and it died."

"Ah," I said, thinking that made way more sense than all the crazy scenarios I had in my head. "It's okay, that's not important."

I specifically remembered telling her to turn it off that way the battery didn't die, but I could tell she was already angry with herself about that.

It didn't matter, and I moved on.

"So the story. Since I couldn't get you on the radio, we went to find Genta."

"Okay," she said, "was it a trap?"

"Yes and no. I'm still trying to make sense of it. The zombies at his apartment building acted weird. They…"

Aiko interrupted by glancing towards Chiemi and the shed at the end of the yard.

I got distracted by that and stopped.

She turned back. "Sorry, keep going. I'm listening."

"Okay. They were under some type of half-assed mind control that Genta had over them."

"He was controlling the zombies?"

I shook my head. "Yes and no. I'm not sure Genta even knows. The zombies near him were extra-slow and barely even acknowledged our existence. It took forever to lure them away."

Aiko nodded, listening intently.

"Once we got inside the apartment building it was obvious something wasn't right. Gut feeling, then nausea, then light-headed, then sick to the stomach, woozy, disorientation, blurred vision, headache, bloody noses, all that and more. It just kept getting worse… the closer we got to Genta."

"So he was a zombie?"

I shook my head. "No. Some type of hybrid. His arm looked all infected but everything else about him was normal. That's why we didn't know on the walkie-talkies."

She nodded. "Sorry."

"Don't be." I said, hugging her, "all that matters is that you're safe, and we're safe, and I made it back alive without doing anything stupid."

Aiko laughed but didn't say anything.

I took a deep breath, trying to steady my nerves as I continued my story. "So we're making our escape when Ryotaro passes out and falls over, his nose bleeding. I go down next, almost out of it myself.

"That's when I finally realize something was wrong with Genta. I'm just barely able to shoot the guy in his side before he kills us, and as soon as I do we start feeling better."

"You shot him?"

I nodded, feeling a pang of guilt. "Had to. He was infected, but not fully turned. It was like he was in some sort of half-infected state. He could still think and talk, but he was killing us with whatever type of aura or power he had. I forced him to talk. He still barely told us anything good."

Aiko looked thoughtful for a moment. "Like what?"

"He said he was bitten two days ago, but instead of turning into a full-blown zombie, he started to feel this connection to them. He could sense their presence."

Aiko's eyes widened in disbelief. "That's... that's insane."

I nodded. "It is. But he seemed to be telling the truth. He even showed us his bite wound. It was still fresh and infected, but it wasn't spreading like it should have been."

Aiko shook her head, trying to process everything I had just told her. "What did you do with him? Did he die? Did you kill him?"

"I wanted to, but I'm no murderer. You know that. Two days ago I never dreamed of harming another person."

She looked confused. "I don't understand. So you helped him?"

"Asked Haru what he thought we should do."

"You asked a kid?" Aiko smirked.

Ryotaro nodded, jumping back into the conversation. "Kid said it was all true. Said the man was being honest about everything."

"So why didn't you save him?"

Ryotaro shook his head. "Kid also said he didn't trust the man. And neither did we."

"Ah," Aiko said, "okay. That makes sense."

"So we left him there. We gave him some medical supplies and threatened to kill him if he ever came near us again. I don't know if it was the right thing to do, but I couldn't risk bringing him back here with us."

Ryotaro did a fake cough. Aiko and I both looked at him.

"Well, not medical supplies," the old man said.

I asked, "what?

"I didn't put anything useful in the bag." Ryotaro clarified. "The bag you tossed him. There was nothing good in there."

I stared at the old man as he grinned mischievously. "What do you mean? What did you put in there?"

He pretended like this was a difficult thing to remember. "Toothpaste, diarrhea pills, and a half-eaten protein bar."

I was conflicted with his words. It was absolutely funny to me but also at the same time an extremely horrible thing to do.

He could tell I was stunned by the admission. I asked, "why?"

"Why not? The man tried to kill us. I don't feel bad about it. I hope he has bled to death on the floor of that apartment building."

Aiko hadn't said anything as she listened to our exchange. I was at a loss for words.

I agreed with everything he said, but I also felt horrible we did that to a man, as if being shot wasn't punishment enough. I had expected Ryotaro to give the man something to ease his pain or treat the bullet wound.

"Besides," Ryotaro said, "he called you an asshole. I hope he dies thinking we are both assholes."

I was thinking this was how villains were born. Genta was going to take that personal and he was going to come back for revenge one day.

"Great," I smirked.

The old man chuckled. He looked towards the house. "Well, I think I'm going to get myself cleaned up now."

Aiko and I both nodded as he left. I still had a hard time believing he did that.

When Aiko looked at me again, she was smiling. The woman put her face against mine and I could feel her body relaxing as we held each other.

"You did what you had to do."

I nodded. "I guess so. We couldn't risk bringing an infected person back here even if we wanted to help him."

She sighed. "Well… now that we know you're safe and what happened to you, I guess I need to tell you about Yuki."

I gulped, mind instantly racing with creative thoughts. I remembered the bloodied, busted up van down at the museum, and I remembered Chiemi was still standing at the shed with a gun.

Predicting what was probably the most obvious, I guessed in my head that Yuki had been infected, and that she was in the shed right then.

Guessing at what she would say, I watched intently. It looked extremely difficult for Aiko to get the words out.

"Yuki was bit."

She started crying even before she could finish. I knew Aiko was the strongest person I had ever met, and the fiercest woman on the planet.

But she was not afraid to cry when she was wrapped in my arms.

I held her tighter and I didn't say anything. It was not the time for my words. It was time to let her grieve and process.

"She was bit by a running zombie," she said after a minute. "The bastard was fast. Faster than any human I've ever seen. He jumped on the van when we were driving and everything seemed to go horribly wrong in a matter of seconds."

I let her cry, not even knowing what to say. I could tell she blamed herself for Yuki being bit.

She could do that all she wanted, but I was the one at fault. I had split our group in that moment of sheer panic back at the Zag Zag.