Chapter 3.
Recap:
She smiled, walking towards me, "Yukinoshita Yukino. Pleased to make your acquaintance, Hikigaya-kun," she said as she offered her hand.
"Likewise", I reply as I shake her hand
"So?" she looks at me, leaning against the wall "What's the plan?"
"Escape school. Go home. Rescue Komachi."
When I say it like that, I sound like a caveman.
She lets out an exasperated sigh and furrowed her eyebrows, "Hikigaya-kun, if we actually go through that we would only get ourselves killed, I would much rather have something solid in order to rescue your sister."
I coughed, knowing she had a point, "W-well… let's see… It would normally take me 30 or so minutes to get to my home by walking but with those freaks out there… I have no idea. The main problem would be trying to get to my house while avoiding them as best as we can."
Yukinoshita appeared to be thinking about what I said but after a while she replies, "We could try walking behind buildings and traveling through alleyways."
I agreed with that, it was logical and probably our best bet to get to my house.
"That sounds good, I'll lead the way and since you have your weapon I'll rely on you to watch my back."
"Hikigaya-kun, are you possibly asking a woman to protect you?" she asks with a teasing smirk
"Yes, I am. Please protect me, oh great Yukinoshita-sama." I have no shame admitting that. "I'll try to find a weapon for myself on the way though."
She seemed surprised by my utter lack of pride, which I see a lot from people who talk to me for more than 2 minutes. I have no need for useless pride when my life is on the line, I'll gladly accept the protection of anyone regardless of their gender.
Also have you seen how she uses that as a weapon? That zombie's head earlier got absolutely pulverized. Scary.
Before I can say anything she speaks out, "We should also keep the noise to the minimum, we don't know how these creatures function but It's best to not be careless."
I nod, she had a point. We know next to nothing about them after all.
"Well, we've spent enough time strategizing now, we should get going. You ready?" I ask her.
Receiving a nod in response I take a deep breath and move towards the window, our only way out. Slowly opening it as to not make any noise, I peek out a little trying to spot if any of them were in our way.
Thankfully the area was clear, it seemed like the zombies couldn't make their way to the back of the building which worked out in our favor.
I slowly make my way out of the window, trying not to make any noise. My companion doing the same.
Since we were behind the building all we faced was a medium sized wall and 2 other routes. Our best bet would probably be making our way to the other side of the wall and it seemed like luck was in our favour since we had a small dumpster than we could climb over.
I relay the plan to Yukinoshita and we successfully make our way across the wall with no issues. No zombies in sight here either which wasn't surprising considered it was just a bit of land and the rest was just sea.
Not wasting any time we make our way to the left side of the school, a huge parking lot, an easy way to assess the danger on the main highway and take cover behind cars.
As soon as we got near the parking lot and the wall covering us shortened making us crouch in order not be seen and suddenly out of nowhere we heard the grinding of tires against the ground.
Peeking a bit above the wall we saw a red car speeding towards the road, going into the middle lane of the intersection leading quite a lot of zombies towards it.
Luckily for us that wasn't the lane we were supposed to travel through, which meant the road was clear for us.
"Seems like the person driving the car unintentionally cleared the way for us, now's our chance."
She agreed with me, we really did get really lucky thanks to the person driving. Not wasting any time we hop over the short wall slowly making our way towards the front of the parking lot.
Even though it seemed like the red car had lured every zombie in the vicinity away, every step I took increased my anxiousness. Even slowly walking behind the cover of cars didn't ease that anxiousness, we are out in the open after all.
"Hikigaya-kun?" Yukinoshita suddenly calls out while whispering, breaking my train of thoughts
"Uh, what's wrong?" I reply, looking back to her
"Nothing, It's just… you seemed out of it while we were wal–" She suddenly froze up while talking as I see her eyes widening at something behind me. And if her shock was any indication, there was probably a zombie behind me.
'Shit-'
Before I could make any move she spoke again, "I-It's not…" She took a small breath in and calmed herself before continuing, "It's not moving."
That was… weird. Weird and scary. Knowing there's a zombie somewhere behind you is scary no matter what. But from what I see in her line of sight she seemed to be looking a bit to the left, which meant It wasn't directly behind me at least.
"How far is it?" I ask in the softest voice I could muster
"About 8 or so meters away… looking directly towards us"
It seems like the zombie can't see us? Or maybe it can only see up to a certain distance? The latter seems to be the more likely option considering the zombie's in the school corridor surrounding me could see me. I take a deep breath to calm myself and think out my next moves carefully.
"Yukinoshita, let me know if it makes any movement."
She nods. Now to determine if the zombie reacts to any movement.
I try twitching my fingers a little. No response.
A bit of hand movement. Still nothing.
As I tried lifting my arm above a little Yukinoshita spoke out again, "I-It shifted a little."
I steady my breathing a little as I contemplate my next move. Looking to my side I notice that we are standing right besides two cars, we could take cover between them fast enough that it won't notice maybe? That seems like the only way to get out at the moment.
I try moving my arm again to see if it actually reacted to my movement, luckily there seemed to be no response. Slowly I grab Yukinoshita's arm, making her look at me.
"Trust me, don't make any noise."
Despite my calm exterior I was scared as shit on the inside, my next move was about to be really risky, relying entirely on the fact that the zombie either doesn't notice or isn't fast enough.
'Here goes nothing'
I prepare my body by leaning towards the cars and as fast as I can I rush between the cars while pulling Yukinoshita along with me. Not wasting any time, I lean above to try to see the undead through the translucent car windows, and unsurprisingly the sudden movement of our bodies made the zombie react and move towards the spot we were at.
As the zombie got closer I had to stealthily crouch around the car, holding a tight grip around Yukinoshita's arm. Walking slowly so that the zombie doesn't pick up on the footsteps.
Managing to somehow in some way, trick and completely avoid the zombie that could've killed us had we not gotten lucky. We made it between another cars that were parked further away. Raising my head and looking through the windows of one of the cars I managed to see the zombie walking continuously in the direction it was moving towards, seeing that made me release a breath I didn't realize I was holding.
Free from the tense situation that I somehow got out of, I release my hold on Yukinoshita's arm to slowly slide down the sides of the car and catch my breath, Yukinoshita doing the same upon seeing me relieved.
After just sitting there for god knows how many minutes, I decide to break the silence. "You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine", she answers, seeming somewhat calmed down now
I nod, acknowledging her response. "Well, at least now we know that these things act based on movement and distance"
"It's also safe to assume that they can completely see us within a small range too, based on what happened at the school."
That was a good point. Now that we know this, it'll be much safer for us from here on out. "Yeah… well, having this information with us will benefit us immensely, we should probably get moving again"
Yukinoshita agreed with that of course, considering how our way to Komachi has been made easier thanks to this, wasting time sitting around would be dumb. We both got up and carefully checked our surroundings to make sure the way was clear of any undead, once confirmed we readied ourselves and starting moving.
'Just wait a little more Komachi... I'll definitely save your from this hell no matter what.'
Sorry for the time it took for Chapter 3, finally got myself up to finish it. Though originally this chapter was meant to be a bit shorter than it is right now but it is what it is.
Also I constantly feel like my writing is straight up awkward, it really seems like it is. I'd like to know what you guys think about it. I really want to get better so I'll appreciate any criticism!
o/