Given a second chance to relive her life, Shizuru is more than determined to live her life and protects Natsuki in the world where there is no order and where the undead roamed. "Natsuki, if your love is all I had in this life, that would be enough till the end of time."
Natsuki told Shizuru of her plan to try their hands on attacking the Undeads and Shizuru agreed.
They needed to learn to defend themselves. It would be a good opportunity for them to learn how to attack the Undeads now, especially when the Undeads were still slow to react and they had a fear of the Sun.
If things went according to Shizuru's prediction, the Undeads would evolve to tolerate the sun within three days. So now would be a good time to learn how to attack them while the Undeads were still weak and slow.
They locked Duran in their apartment and Shizuru took out a naginata from the Earth.
Shizuru was quite proud of herself when she managed to get hold of a naginata especially given Japan's tight law against weapons. It was extremely difficult to buy a naginata from anywhere, especially when it wasn't a very popular weapon, unlike some other traditional Japanese weapons such as the katana. But as long as someone had the necessary money, they could get the weapon from the black market.
The naginata has a six feet long pole and a 15 inches long blade at the front. The pole was made of a light stainless metal coated with a dark red coating. And Shizuru tied a dark red rope at one end of the pole. At the other end was the blade with its sharp edge, glistening under the light.
Shizuru held the naginata in her hand, the shape of the pole nicely fitting into her hand and not too heavy for her to swing around. She had been practicing using her naginata while she was training in the Earth and now was the time to use it on the Undead.
With the naginata in hand, Shizuru left the apartment together with Natsuki.
As for Natsuki, she planned to try her hand at killing the Undeads using her ability.
Lucky for them, most of the apartments had their doors closed and locked. Nobody would wonder why Shizuru would be wandering along the corridor with a katana in hand.
Natsuki extended her Mental Ability outwards, through their door and down the stairs. Her vision range expended and she could clearly 'see' the surrounding beyond her apartment door.
Lucky for her, there was no Undead loitering outside their apartment. They exited their apartment and walked towards the stairs. And as they walked past the many apartments, they could hear scratching sound from the other side. The Undeads were scratching the door, trying to get out of their apartment.
They ignored the Undeads in their building and walked in single file down the stairs.
They had discussed their plan and already identified their targets. They only planned to test the water and take this as a training, not to court death.
They exited the building and quickly moved to an area with few Undeads. This would be easier if they needed to escape back to their apartment. They waited for Undeads to approach them.
Smelling food nearby, two Undeads moved towards Natsuki and Shizuru.
One of the Undeads moving towards them was limping badly. Its right foot was broken, bent at a perpendicular angle to the leg. As it walked toward them, it left behind a trail of blood. The other Undead was slightly better, though not much. Teeth bites could be found all across its body, with a significant large chunk of flash missing from its arms.
Blisters covered their bodies and some of it had burst, revealing thick yellow mucus dripping from the wound. The stench of dead rotting flesh filled the air.
Had Shizuru not prepared her for it, she would have screamed at the sight of these Undeads and rushed to empty her stomach.
Natsuki forced herself not to turn away.
Shizuru narrowed her eyes and gave Natsuki a look.
Natsuki quickly crystallised two ice bullets and shot at the Undead closest to her. The ice bullets crumbled upon hitting the Undead. For a moment, Natsuki panic as the Undead seemed undeterred and went on to shorten the distance between the two of them.
"Don't worry. Just focus your attention." Shizuru grabbed her hand.
Natsuki quickly composed herself and still her mind, focusing on the crystalisation of more bullets.
She sent the bullets flying them at the Undead.
On Shizuru's side, she held her breath and swung her naginata to block the Undead's attack and pushed it backwards. The weeks of training proved its effectiveness when Shizuru swung the naginata around before thrusting it into the Undead's head, as thick yellow mucus oozed out from the wound. She then dislodged the head from the body. While she managed to kill the Undead but there was too much unnecessary movement, which could have gotten her killed if the Undead was any faster.
Shizuru closed her eyes and took in a deep breath. At least she survived her encounter with the Undead. Shizuru comforted herself before looking over at Natsuki.
Natsuki was looking very pale. Her target had been cut into many places. Its hand was just hanging by the shoulder by the skin yet it remained stubbornly 'alive'.
"Natsuki, Undeads' weakness is the head. They will only die after you smash their head." Shizuru stood at the side and pointed out to Natsuki. She wasn't going to help Natsuki. This was something that Natsuki had to learn. She can't fight on Natsuki's behalf. She had to learn how to defend herself.
Natsuki took in a deep breath and once again an ice bullet appeared in the air and flew towards the Undead. This time round she controlled the speed and strength of the attack and the bullet pierced through the Undead's head.
Natsuki opened her mouth and took in several deep breaths.
Shizuru walked over and hugged Natsuki. "You have done well Natsuki. You have done well."
With her face still pale, Natsuki gave Shizuru a reassuring smile, suppressing the feeling of fear and disgust building up within her. Despite trying to tell herself that the Undeads were not human beings, Natsuki still could not quite bring herself to kill it. They were just humans yesterday! Killing them was a keen to killing human. And this thought just made her very uncomfortable.
Shizuru knew how it was like to kill an Undead for the first time. She hugged Natsuki tight and comforted her.
After a few seconds, Natsuki straightened up and gave Shizuru's hand a pat. "I'm fine. Don't worry."
They didn't dare to dwell around too much and quickly left the place when they saw more Undeads making their way towards them. They quickly ran to their building and up the stairs back to the protection of their home
But once they were back home, Shizuru and Natsuki noticed that the sliding door to their balcony was open.
And Duran had disappeared.
"What happened?" With a frown, Natsuki walked to the balcony only to see it empty.
Shizuru checked every room but Duran was nowhere in sight. "I can't find Duran anywhere in the house. I have checked. There is no trace of forced entry either." There was a slide pause before she articuled what she feared most, " I'm afraid Duran might have ran off."
Natsuki sighed and ran her fingers through her hair in frustration. She should have taken better care of Duran.
"Perhaps Duran will return on its own?" Shizuru tried to comfort Natsuki. She too was feeling guilty. If she insisted that Duran to remain in the Earth, he might still be safe. "Duran is very smart. I am sure he would be fine."
Natsuki could only nod her head.
And for the past ten days, Shizuru and Natsuki stayed at their apartment, hoping against hope that Duran would once again returned.
But ten days had passed and there was still no sign of Duran. Natsuki fear for the worse. It was not possible for a dog to survive alone during the apocalypse, with Undeads roaming around in searched of fresh meat. She had more or less given up all hope of Duran ever returning.
Natsuki sighed.
Within these ten days, everything on Earth had changed.
Undeads were no longer afraid of sunlight and food became even more scarce and many people were forced to venture out to look for food. Otherwise, the other option would be death from hunger.
They spent most of their time in the Earth, training and practicing their skills. After that previous experience with the Undeads, they knew what to work on. For Natsuki, it was her accuracy, her ability to accurately hit the target. If she could strengthen her mental capability, her will, it will be easier for her to control where her ice blade was going. So she spent most of her time practicing shooting her ice blade at trees and falling leaves.
As for Shizuru, she had to work on minimising extra unnecessary movements and she did that by constant sparing with Natsuki.
Shizuru finished her usual training sets and exited the Earth. She sighed. Why didn't she have any Ability?
Just then, there was a knock on the door.
Shizuru was surprised that there would still be people knocking at their door during apocalypse.
Looking through the peephole, Shizuru saw a few men and women standing outside.
Eyes narrowed, Shizuru asked, "What do you want?"
One of the lady smiled and spoke, "We are the residents of this apartment block. Looking at the situation now, we think that it might be better for all of us to gather together rather than sparsely spread out. We will be easy target for the Undeads. We also have some food to last us a period of time and we are also searching for food and then distribute the food we found to everyone. If you join us, we can go out to hunt for food together. Many people have already join us. What do you think?"
Shizuru thought about it. "I won't be able to make a decision by myself. I need to discuss this with my friend. Can you give us a few days?" Based on current situation, how many people would be willing to go out and face the Undeads while searching for food? She was sure that majority of the people would not be willing to do that. If they joined the group, they would be risking their lives to feed a group of parasites - for the lack of better name to call those people who only eat and yet hardly helped to hunt for food.
The lady shrugged and nodded her head. "Sure you can. But if you don't agree now, you would have to give up seven days of food and water to be able to join us. And after three days, you have to go out hunting for food, until you manage to find some food. The food you found will be submitted to us for distribution."
Confused, Shizuru asked, "Why?"
"This is to prevent people who joined us only because they finish their own food and leech on us without any contribution." A woman behind her spoke up. "It is not safe to venture out and food is getting scarce. Most of us risked our lives to search for food. It is unfair for us to risk our lives while you stay at home, in comfort, and enjoy our hard work. We don't rear parasites."
Shizuru arched her eyebrow. Looked liked this lady was in an angsty mood.
"Enough Haruka." The first lady patted Haruka's shoulder.
Shizuru looked at them and replied, "I see. Thank you. Let me go and discuss with my friend first."
The first lady smiled. "We lived on the second floor. Once you have decided, you can come to the second floor to find us. Live's not easy nowadays. Let's just give and take."
Has it really come to this? Shizuru wondered.
They lost contact with the outside world for the past ten days and they were not sure of the current development. Should they joined them?
Shizuru turned away from the door and entered the Earth.
Natsuki had already finished training and was seated on the riverside, as if she was in deep thoughts.
"What is it?" Shizuru walked over, took out her shoes and sat down next to her, dipping her toes into the cool steam.
"I find that I may have entered a bottleneck." Natsuki frown.
Shizuru hugged her and rested her head on Natsuki's shoulder. "Don't give yourself so much pressure. You are already strong enough."
But Natsuki only smiled and kept quiet.
No, she wasn't strong enough. I need to be stronger so that no one can hurt you. Natsuki thought as she intertwined her fingers with Shizuru's.
Seeing that Natsuki was quiet, Shizuru told her about those people to came to their door earlier on. "Do you think we should join them?"
Natsuki thought about it. "I think we can join them. Just like what you said, the Undeads do not fear the sunlight anymore and we need to fight against the Undeads to strengthen ourselves. It might be easier for us to fight when we are in groups. There is strength in number. I think we have been out of touch with the outside world for a while and we don't know what is going on outside. We might know more if we join them and the news might be beneficial to us."
Shizuru nodded. "Alright then, we will go over to find them in a while. We don't have much food left over in our house but Natsuki you can let them know about your Ice Ability. They won't think of us a free rider when they know you have combat power and our lives might be easier." Shizuru said as she recalled how confrontational the lady was just now when she talked about those freeloaders.
They were taking this opportunity to learn. They did not think that this apartment block was going to withstand the Undeads' attack forever. Sooner or later they would have to move.
After discussing their plans and strategies, the two of them left this apartment bring along their 'limited food'.
The corridor was empty of people and there was blood and yellow substance splashed across the wall. As they passed other apartments, they could see that the doors to the apartments had been pried open and many furniture were missing from the apartment. And like the corridor, there were blood stains all over the walls and floors. Looked like the earlier group of people had done it. They must have broken into the apartment and killed the Undeads and took away any useful items.
There were eighteen levels to this building and each level has six apartment. This building would have housed quite a number of people and this meant that there could be many Undeads in this block. But how many people would have survived the apocalypse?
When they reached level two, they found the apartment and knocked on the door.
It was lunchtime they could smell the smell of food as the door open.
The one who opened the door was Huruka-san. "So? What's your decision?" She asked as she leaned against the door, her face none the friendlier.
"I am an Fujino Shizuru and she is Kuga Natsuki and we would like to join your team." Shizuru explained.
"Come on it then." The door widen and Haruka-san led them in. They walked past several barracks and saw the living room.
Shizuru glanced around the place taking in every details in this placed.
There were six apartments in this level but it seemed that someone had broken through the walls dividing the six apartments, turning six apartments into a single big and spacious apartment.
And there were about forty to fifty people sitting on the floor and taking their lunch here and most of them were using disposable utensils. There was one vegetable dish, one soup dish and instant noodles. No meat.
Shizuru glanced at Natsuki. It seemed that the situation here wasn't very optimistic.
"You made the right decision to come here." A young petite lady seated at the sofa spoke up as she put aside her food and stood up to welcome them. She was the first lady she spoke to this morning together with Haruka-san.
Shizuru arched her brows in surprise. It looked like this petite bi-spectacle lady was the leader here. It was rather rare for a lady to be the leader during apocalypse. Not that it was impossible. But rare. Especially when it was apocalypse and the number of male outweighed the female.
"I think everyone knows the situation we are in now. We can only survive if we work together and wait for the government to arrive. I am Kikukawa Yukino and the people here are kind enough to allow me to be the leader of this group of people."
Shizuru and Natsuki nodded their head, "Kikukawa-san"
"Enough of you chitchat, just take all your food and give it to us." A man wearing a long sleeve white shirt, squatting on the floor and eating his lunch spoke up.
There was an abashed and awkward look on Shizuru and Natsuki's face. "Kikukawa-san, we didn't have much food left. Only one bag of instant noodles and a pack of fresh vegetables." Natsuki said as she lifted a plastic bag filled with the said items.
There was silence in the whole apartment. Those people who were eating earlier on, heard Natsuki's words, and stopped in mid track and looked at the two ladies, their face turning dark.
Someone shouted, "Get out bitch!"
Yukino looked down and thought about it. It wasn't surprising actually. They looked young and unaware of the situation. So it was not surprising that they did not have much food left. But now that food were getting more and more scarce, it won't be right to let them stay here and eat without any contribution, especially when others were risking their lives put there to source for food. They would practically be freeloaders.
Shizuru glanced at these people and she could guess what they were thinking of. She grabbed Natsuki's hand and said, "I have learned some martial art in the past. I can help to hunt for food. So I won't be a freeloader. And Natsuki here, she is able to crystallized ice. So please don't think that we will be freeloaders."
Yukino's eyes brightened up the moment she heard Shizuru mentioned Natsuki's ability. "You also have an ability?" She stretched out her hand and Shizuru felt a ripple in the air and then she saw a coat of substance coating the door and there was a yellow glow to it.
That was the Earth Ability.
"We call that Ability." Natsuki said as she spread her palm open and form a big ice cube in her hand and put it on the floor.
"That's great! We would not run out of water now." The Obaa-san who was in charge of cooking exclaimed happily.
There was some murmuring from the people and Shizuru could sense the slight change in attitude from everyone.
Shizuru smiled and handed their keys over to Yukino when she brought them over to a bedroom. It was a bedroom in the merged apartment. "The weather is good now and many people choose to sleep together in this merged apartment. If you want to, you could go back to your own apartment. But that would quite troublesome because we would have to go up and find you to notify you about lunch and hunting trips. So I would suggest you stay here. And safer too."
"It's ok. We understand given the situation."
Yukino gave a sigh of relief. Natsuki was the second person she met that had the ability and she thought that they would be difficult to handle. But unexpectedly, they were very nice. "The two of you can stay here first. But when there are more people, I'm afraid we might have to squeeze a bit." Actually she had given them a room together with another group of girls but had decided to give them a more private room when she realized that Natsuki had ability.
Shizuru thanked Yukino and Yukino left after reminding them of a few things to look out for while staying here.
"What do you think about this whole situation?" Natsuki looked around the room. The whole room was completely empty of furniture. If they wanted to stay here, they might have to bring a few furniture from their previous apartment.
"I don't think this place is going to last for long." Shizuru thought. "There are many people here and most of them are freeloader, not willing to venture out and source for food. And did you see their faces when we first reached here, not many were willing to accept us. But the moment you revealed your ability, their attitude changed. Many parasites but little food."
Natsuki agreed with Shizuru's observation. "Yukino-san is kind enough to take them in but I don't think they are grateful about it. The look they gave us and the words they said when we first arrived, are clear signal. Since no one is willing to go out and search for food, there will definitely be clashes once the food ran out."
Shizuru sighed. Such things were common occurrence during apocalypse. Friends and families clashed over food.
"We will just take one step at a time. We will stay here for a while and if we really don't like it here, we can always leave." There was something Shizuru hadn't told Natsuki. Now was only the onset of apocalypse. Once the apocalypse dragged on and food will become more and more scarce, people will venture out for food and likely than not, be infected and turned into Undeads. And as human population dwindled, the Undeads attracted by human scent will make their way here and those Undeads were tireless and relentless as long as there was food. They would not stop as long as there was food and the door to this apartment would not be enough to stop those Undeads.
To clear the University Town of the Undeads will take a long while. But lucky for them, it was still the holiday season for the university students, otherwise the number of Undeads in the University Town would be higher and the degree of infection would be greater.
They spent about one hour tidying their place, bringing their furniture down from their old apartment to their new room. And once they were settled in, they went to the living room for a meeting.
There were about fifty plus people gathering in the living room. About ten of them were women and the rest were men, mostly in their twenties to forties.
"Come take a seat." Yukino gestured to the empty plastic chairs lying around, when they saw them entering the living room.
Shizuru and Natsuki glanced at each other and walked over.
Seeing that everyone was here, Yukino pushed up her glasses and spoke. "Food is getting scarce now. We need to go out and source for food. I need volunteers. Who are willing to join me in the search for food?"
There was only silence as everyone stared at the floor, seemingly entranced by it. There were only four others who volunteered. Haruka, Shizuru, Natsuki and a man raised their hands volunteering their services.
Haruka gave a disgusted snort and walked off to a far corner.
A bunch of parasites!
There was a deep frown on Yukino's face. She knew the situation well, too well in fact. Those people here were taken in by her. While she never expected the situation to turn into this, she had assumed that the situation would be resolved rather quickly and government help would come soon. So she never set rules or guidelines for these people. As time went by, the situation outside got worse and no one was willing to venture out. Everyone was contented with staying here.
She had kept her silence up until now. But food was running out and they desperately needed food. They need people to venture out for food.
Natsuki took in the situation but chose to keep silent. Both Shizuru and her only joined the group today and it might not bode well if their started pointing fingers at others. It was better to keep quiet now.
Haruka snorted again. This time the sound was loud and clear in this apartment.
"So the rest here is going to be a freeloader? We risk our lives outside while you all choose to stay here, all safe and warm? There are so many people here and yet none of you'all here are willing to go out and face the Undeads? It's amazing how people can still complain about food when they didn't have to risk their lives to get the food! What do you take us for!?" Anger that had been building within Haruka finally erupted.
A few of the men's faces turned red with anger.
Was she calling them ungrateful freeloaders?
"What is the meaning of this?" The man who demanded Natsuki and Shizuru to hand over their food earlier on stood up and said. His face beet red with anger.
Haruka gave the man a disdain look and crossed her arms over her chest. "Don't you understand English? I meant what I just said." She had been keeping those words inside her for so long. Yukino saved them and took them in. As one of them, Haruka was more than willing to play a part to help Yukino. But the rest were a bunch of freeloaders and parasites. "If you need me to repeat myself, I can. You all are a bunch of weaklings and cowards, you only know how to leech on us. In other words, parasites. Even the two new female newcomers are better than anyone of you here. You all only know how to hide at home and wait for us to feed you."
Natsuki could see the anger on the man's face as his fist tightened in anger, given that his manly pride was pricked.
The man refuted as he pointed at Natsuki, "That woman has Ability. We don't!" As if the point is valid, he spoke even louder justifying his actions. "You all have the ability. It is your responsibility to protect us!"
"But Shizuru does not have! She is a normal human being like us." Haruka pointed at Shizuru, her voice getting colder. She couldn't believe such words would come from these people's mouth. "Protect? Given the situation now? Is it even possible? If we get to the bottom of all your excuses, you are just a coward. If you have the courage, you would not be hiding here and instead be out there killing the Undeads!"
"You bitch!" The man grabbed Haruka by her collar and raised his fist at her. "Nobody asks Yukino to take us in! She is the one who decides to take us in and now she wants to kick us out? What do you take us for?" The man roared as he swung his fist towards Haruka.
Too quick for human eyes to catch, a solid wall was formed on the floor before it extended from the ground up, segregating Haruka and the man, forcing the man to release Haruka from his grip.
There was only one person with such ability.
Shizuru turned to look at Yukino. To be honest, she was rather surprised that Yukino could form the wall so quickly. Had she not be practicing her reflex to capture quick moment, she might be caught off guard by the appearance of the wall. This young lady has much potential, if she can stop being a goody shoes .
"Enough!"
Yukino closed her eyes and took a deep breath. And when she opened her eyes, Shizuru could see the determination in them, a new realisation that she had been too naive.
"I have been thinking about this for awhile and I guess I would have to say it now, since everyone is here. I took all of you'all in and wanted to protect everyone but the Undeads are evolving too quickly. Increasingly it is harder and harder for us to source for food."
Yukino paused and glanced at everyone in the room. Many held their breaths, knowing what will come next.
"So from now onwards, only those who go out and search for food will get to eat. For those who did not, you will only get porridge and water. Alternatively, you can work for the rest like Obaa-san here who cook for us everyday. She will still get three meals a day. We will provide for her."
Once Yukino announced this, there was an immediate buzz in the living room. Things became messy as many people stood up and gathered around Yukino, demanding she withtracked her words. Everyone was furious except for the other five who volunteered to help source for food.
"How could you do this to us?" Someone screamed at Yukino.
"Do you want us to die of hunger?" Another demanded.
"You are the one who took us in! We didn't insist on joining you!" A third person accused.
"You have the Ability! You need to be responsible for us!"
"Shouldn't you be protecting us since you have the power?"
Everyone crowded around Yukino.
All the while Shizuru and Natsuki was standing by the side. Not that they were oblivious to this. But because they felt that Yukino had been too kind to the extent of being foolish. If anything, it was Yukino who created this situation for herself. She had been an idealist and fool for willing to provide for a group of parasites.
Fools and idealists won't be able to survive in the apocalypse.
Haruka forces her way into the crowd and stood between Yukino and the angry crowds.
"You can leave if you don't agree with Yukino. Leave! Get out!"
Yukino bowed her head, dejected. She had been foolish enough to think that she could help everyone. But she had seen a lot the past few days. The Undeads were evolving too fast for them to handle and it looked liked it was impossible to resolve this epidemic any time soon. Even she herself had difficulty protecting herself, let alone those who hid in this apartment. It had always been a life and death situation whenever she went out to search for food.
Food had become scarce and it was impossible for them to grow food, surviving had become difficult. They needed more people to go out and hunt for food. Otherwise, all of them were going to die here. If the rest were unhappy with her decision, so be it. She had to do it for the betterment of the whole group.
Yukino curled her fingers, raising several walls, dividing the crowds from Haruka and herself.
"Haruka is right. You are free to leave if you don't like my suggestion. From now onwards, we don't feed freeloaders."
No one dared to speak after Yukino's ultimatum.
The situation was very dangerous outside and everyone had been lying to themselves thinking that the government would be here anytime soon to rescue them. But it had been a while and there was still no sign of outside help.
The end of the world was here, Undeads appeared, food became scarce, even the water wasn't enough for everyone. They only managed to survive until now all thanks to Yukino. Otherwise, they would have been dead long ago.
It wasn't that they did not want to go out and hunt for food. But they were afraid of death. Even without them, Yukino could find enough food for all of them. So why should they go out and search for food? Wasn't it better to stay at home? And safer too.
All they wanted to was to survive.
It was 2pm in the afternoon and the sun hung bright and hot in the sky. Even though the Undeads no longer fearful of the sun, they still sought the shade instinctively and their speed tends to be slower too. This was the best time to hunt for food.
Twenty of them decided to venture out for food. Besides Haruka, Yukino, Shizuru and Natsuki, the rest were men. There used to be less than ten people who were willing to venture out in the past. But this time round, there were more, including the man in the white long sleeve shirt.
Everyone walked in single file with Yukino leading the group and Shizuru and Natsuki took the end.
A big group of people were easy target for the Undeads, especially when the smell of human became stronger with many gathering together.
Many Undeads slowly made their way towards them, making it a very dangerous situation for all of them.
Yukino was an Earth Wielder with high defense. But her attack was low. She could only build walls and ground spikes to block and slow down the Undeads while the Haruka used this opportunity to kill them. They seemed to work well with each other as they efficiently killed off a number of Undeads.
However, for those who came out for the first time, they lacked such teamwork. They hid themselves behind Yukino and their legs were already trembling before the Undeads reached them. They equipped themselves with 'weapons' they could find in the apartment, such as metal pole, chopper and baseball bat. But just like their legs, their hands were also trembling.
Natsuki and Shizuru gave them a wary glance wondering if they would accidentally harmed themselves while they were busy killing off the Undeads.
But as more Undeads approached Shizuru and Natsuki, they hardly had the time to think about it.
This was only the second time Shizuru and Natsuki tried their hands killing off the Undeads. The last time, they only faced two Undeads then. But this time round, they were killing large number of Undeads in one shot and with so many other people. Pressure was greater this time round.
Yukino's power wasn't that strong and didn't have the opportunity to train like Shizuru and Natsuki. So the wall around them slowly crumbled under the continued attack of the Undeads.
Shizuru and Natsuki were slightly better, not only were they able to protect themselves but they were also able to save others.
Natsuki threw up multiple ice wall the height of human chest level. It acted as a form of barricades to slow down the movement of the Undeads, preventing them from making further advances while Shizuru swung her naginata at the blocked Undeads.
But the rest of them wasn't so lucky. Some of them had difficulty protecting themselves, especially those who had no experience killing the undead before. A few of them were scratched by the Undeads while some were dragged off by the Undeads.
Frustrated, Yukino built a series of walls between the group and the Undeads and led the group to retreat. With Natsuki's help, their escape was made easier.
But an unexpected accident happened.
This man who had no prior experience killing the Undeads saw an Undead launching towards him and in his frightened state, he instinctively pulled a man next to him and used him to block the Undead.
The innocent man was busy fighting off the Undead in front of him when suddenly he felt a tug and he was dragged off balance. The tug not only broke his stance and defence but also make him vulnerable to attack and endangered his life.
Everyone knew that once human was scratched by the Undeads, they would soon be infected with the virus and turned in Undeads. And with this realis, they started pushing the injured into the hordes of Undeads to delay the Undeads advance.
Even after they left the area they could still hear the screams and cries of those who were sacrificed by their so called group mates.
Yukino's face was thunderous.
They all managed to escape into a shop selling infant care items. Through the glass window, they could see the Undeads plastering their faces on the glass, glowering and roaring at them.
Twenty plus of them went out but only about half of them left.
Shizuru pulled Natsuki to a corner and sat down.
Yukino gave instructions to the remaining people and reminded them of the things to look out for before breaking them up into smaller groups to look for food.
Her Ability was nearly depleted just now and she badly needed a rest to recover her Ability and get everyone back to their apartment before the night set in. Once the night set in, she was afraid that their lives would be in danger. The Undeads became faster and stronger at night.
Shizuru and Natsuki did not move from the spot. Once Yukino had given out her instructions, she walked towards them.
Fatigue evident on her face as she gave Natsuki a bitter smile. "Thank you for saving Riku just now." He shook his head. "I don't even know what to do that time." Riku was the man who was pulled over by another man to block the Undead's attack. But the moment he was pulled over, Natsuki had sent her ice blades flying towards the Undead in front of him, saving his life.
Natsuki only nodded her head in acknowledgment. Yukino was a nice person but those people whom she saved and took in were not. But it was her choice to take on the responsibility, there was nothing Natsuki could say.
"Thanks to you, otherwise I don't think we have even half of them left." Yukino thought about returning back to the apartment with only half the number of people he went out with and felt a headache coming. She could imagine the complaints and the criticisms that would come her way. She sighed. Those people were holed up in that apartment for so many days that they did not even know the situation outside.
Natsuki replied in a monotonous voice. "Since I join your group, i will just do my parts."
Yukino smile gratefully.
Lucky for them, they found many edible food and useful material. The owner of this shop seemed to live here and she had stock up many food when apocalypse arrived. But unfortunately for her, she turned into an Undead and the rest killed her when they found her locked in a room by herself in the second storey. Once the rest had gathered all the items, they gathered around the first floor.
Outside the shop house, the Undeads were still banging on the glass window, unwilling to give up on their food. The glass panels rattled under the Undeads force. Each rattles sounded in tandem with their heartbeats It looked like the glass panel may come apart anytime soon. The Undeads' black fingernails moved across the glass panels, leaving behind deep scratches on it, leaving fear within people's heart.
Yukino frown. This was the most dangerous trip she had ever made.
Haruka walked towards Yukino, looking very worried, "Yukino, what should we do now?"
Yukino gave Natsuki a glance and raised her voice, "Does anyone here have any suggestions?"
Yet there was only silence. And the scratching and rattling grew louder amidst the silence.
As the silence dragged on, so did fear as it spread through everyone. Those hands holding on to the weapons trembled as they wiped away the sweats trickling down from their forehead.
The silent dragged on until someone could not handle the pressure and screamed, "Your fault! Your fault! It's all your fault! You must be happy that we are dying soon aren't you! Once we die, there will be more food for you!" One man slammed his weapon onto the floor. "You Haruka! You bitch! It's because of you! You! Your fault!"
His words were liked a fire starter, igniting the suppressed emotions within the people. All of them started to approach Haruka, criticizing her. But Haruka only stood there, chins up, without speaking a word.
Yukino quickly stood forward and stood in between the group and Haruka.
"Move aside you bitch!" One of them said.
All the while Shizuru and Natsuki stood by the side, watching the whole scene unfold. Not that they were cold hearted. They will only intervene if necessary, if they attacked the Haruka and Yukino. This was a good opportunity for Yukino to realise what her softheartedness had led her to.
"Enough!" Yukino screamed. "How dare you all say that!? Shouldn't you be embarrassed about yourself. What's wrong with what Haruka-san said? This is world end now! World End! No one is obligated to feed you all! If you don't like it, you can leave! I won't stop you!"
She has seen it all. Freeloaders, parasites! Once something wrong happened, they would point their fingers at her, blaming her for all their misery. In the past and now.
She tried to be kind and save them and take them in but they took it for granted.
No one dared to say anything now.
Suddenly, there was a commotion outside and the Undeads started to move away from the window one by one and slowly made their way to another direction, wobbling side by side.
Natsuki sent out her mental power to see what was happening outside.
Not far away from them were a group of ten people killing off the Undeads. And it was them who attracted the Undeads away. In some way, they had saved them. And surprisingly there were familiar faces in that group.
Natsuki extended her power further, closer to the group to see clearer. But it seemed that someone could sense Natsuki's' Mental Ability and looked in her direction.
And it was that moment that Natsuki felt a sharp pain in her head. But she suppressed the pain and quickly retracted her Mental Ability and subconsciously retreated two steps.
Shizuru was observing by the sight. She knew Natsuki was using her Ability. She could tell when Natsuki's eyes turned a dark emerald green. But just when she thought everything was fine, Natsuki seemed to pale and then stumbled backwards.
"What happened?" Concerned, Shizuru asked as she grabbed hold of Natsuki, preventing her from falling.
"It's ok. I'm fine." Natsuki took in a deep breath and gave Shizuru a reassuring smile. "I will tell you later."