Replenishing I
After the gates closed down; we were successfully isolated. Both Takashi and Higuchi approached me, the former placed a hand on my shoulder.
"Brand... the bikes".
Perhaps even that was a little too much for them compared to what I have done prior... getting things out of nowhere; materialising arrows and storing food... this time I placed my hand on five motorbikes and stored them all into my inventory... even if I could come with a half-assed explanation for the rest, this was just too much fiction.
I released his hand from my shoulder and glared at him, Takashi gulped and so did Higuchi.
"I got them..."
"Are you some sort of alien that came to save the world?" Hirano asked me when we were back with the group after the gossipers told everyone what I did; his ridiculous assumption put everyone's gazes on me, even Shizuka who had spent the most time with me.
'Come on Shizuka, you should know better darling...'
"Is that the best explanation you guys could come up with?" I sighed.
Jokes on them; Takashi is not really wrong... I did come to save the world, perhaps I could be considered an Alien as well since I'm human but not from this dimension.
"The only other explanation is that you were sent by Kami-sama" Higuchi added, scratching his head and producing a wave of laughter... how come being sent by Kami-sama is 'amusing' while being an alien isn't?
However, I merely rubbed my temples and ignored them, heading to where Saeko was.
"If I say I was sent by Kami-sama, will you stop asking questions?"
"No," They all said in unison.
"Then it doesn't matter, you okay Hirano?".
"Yes... just out of ammo".
"How is Saeko?".
"I'm... okay... just a bit of pain," My girlfriend said when I bent down beside her, her shoulder already bandaged up with a patch of blood visible through it.
I nodded at her, caressing her delicate cheeks and turning my head towards my pinkette cousin; she was hugging her knees not too far away with the gun by her side. I moved towards her and shook her slightly.
"Saya... you?"
"..."
She didn't answer me, Kyoko approached us while hugging her elbows and explained.
"She shot a few times... Lucy told her to just make cover fire but... some of those shots did hit the gangsters... one of them is dead now" the teacher explained to me and I could see she was going through her own issues, possibly still thinking of herself as useless since she's the only one that didn't contribute, but it couldn't be helped.
"I-I killed someone, Brand" Saya said to me, her hands quivering as I held them. I resisted the urge to sigh, I still can't understand why to them killing zombies is different than killing people; it feels the same to me.
"Correction... you protected us all, so you better don't start blaming yourself for this, Saya... it is not the moment".
"U-Uhm" The girl nodded, fixing her glasses with reluctance and standing up, she took her gun and glared at it for a few seconds before locking it up and placing it on her delicate waist, all too slim and delicious.
*SLAP!*
"W-What was that for?!" She held her burning butt and glared at me with poison, I merely shrugged my shoulders.
"No reason..."
Just when she was about to argue with me and possibly slap my one in return, both Lucy and Rei came back with some intel.
"There are two floors above us... a lot of boxes but not much more; we didn't see anyone else around, it is mostly empty offices," Rei stated, taking a seat beside the rest of the group to finally rest and clean the blood out of her face.
"Internet?" I asked Lucy solemnly since they likely had computers in here.
"Nothing..." My girl crossed her arms and shook her head with a slight depression, she having no internet is like me having no girls... I understand that she feels quite uncomfortable.
"What about a second exit?"
She shook her head again but mumbled some whispers while looking at the main gates that were being bumped by the zombies.
"There is a window upstairs that leads to a balcony but... it is quite far away... perhaps you and I can make the jump, but the rest..."
The banging on the doors got madder, perhaps all the zombies in a few kilometres around the area are all here and pressing on that damn door, we don't have the motivation, ammo or energy to go against all of them.
...
"We're resting here for a bit. You guys guard while I start storing everything I can, even if we're trapped here for now, it was worth it. With this much food, we won't be feeling hungry for a long time" I said some relieving bullcrap leader's words and headed to the many halls together with Lucy.
She took all of the guns belonging to the gangsters and that's when we saw the leader, still alive but bleeding himself off.
"UGH!"
I kicked his face again just for the pleasure of it; Lucy standing beside us.
"Where is your hideout, how many of your group there are?" I asked him; recalling how he mentioned that they had some girls they were likely abusing. They must be great in numbers.
He spat some blood on my shirt and smiled wickedly. I sighed, pointing the gun at his head; his gaze contorted in fear as if he awaited me to keep questioning him. What a fool.
*PA!*
I have no time to torture him for answers and that's not something I enjoy doing either.
"Brand?!"
"It's okay... I just killed the last of these bastards" I answered to Shizuka who had yelled from the position where the group was.
Lucy got me all of the guns, they were the same model that she had gotten for me prior, Nambu M60 Revolver.
"They must have stolen it from a police car or something... or they killed some cops to get them, it makes sense why Saeko was bleeding so much, although the calibre is the same with the glock, the strength of fire is greater".
I nodded and stored nine guns belonging to the nine goons we killed. Then the two of us walked around picking up everything that was worth storing like pasta, canned food and so on, the fresh food had been left outside without the fridges working for a day or two and was likely beginning to spoil so I didn't take it. With this much food, we won't be going hungry for a while; I should have done this from the beginning but nothing went the way I expected it.
I guess I somehow expected the Catastrophe to start while we were comfy in our mansion filled with food and guns. After Lucy helped me put everything that was worth having into the inventory; we turned around and headed back to the still-resting group.
"See if you can find some hot water or a kettle and you guys can make yourselves some noodles or something, since we're already here we might as well stop for a break".
"Yeah!"
I put some nice stuff in the middle for them to cook and then took Lucy by the wrist.
"Show me that window that you mentioned, Lucy".
...
My net runner took me to the spot up the stairs where the window was. On the second floor, there was a window facing towards the next building, which had a balcony. This was the only possible escape route, looking down, the whole street was filled with zombies... it was ridiculous when did so many of them assemble?
"It is a huge jump," I said, about four metres and there isn't that much space here to accelerate before jumping. Some people would have to be on this side, pushing, while someone else was on the other side, receiving... the slightest mistake could mean someone's death.
"Do you want to try it?" Lucy asked me... I can't imagine all of us making it... Kyoko and Hirano wouldn't be able to do it. If Lucy and I (the most athletic ones together with Saeko) have doubts about reaching the other side, then there is not much to say about the rest.
"There must be another route..." I thought deeply only to come out with a single answer; the Monkey Bomb that I had gotten the night prior.
Lucy regarded it and lifted up her eyebrows in a complex mix of surprise and amusement. Surprise due to my power, and amusement at how ridiculous this bomb looked, I don't blame her.
"That is..."
"It is something I got with my power... although I do not know how it works" The bomb Having a TNT charge stuck to it doesn't give me good vibes about inspecting it.
"let me see... who made this, a vagrant..? it is so rudimentary" Lucy took the bomb from me and began inspecting it, I almost sweated at how she was handling that thing, one mistake and we're both gone.
"How many of these do you have?"
"I few... I can get some more".
"Let's go... we can test this out and see if it works".
She took me by the wrist, smirking for some reason as if she was about to do some mischievousness. I don't care what she does as long as she doesn't blow the two of us into hell. We walked around the building towards the building's face where we had an amble view of everything around us.
There were at least five dozen zombies out there all clustered together like cockroaches in an unnerving display; it was chilling to regard to the point I wondered if the gates would resist. They were quite heavy and noisy which only attracted more zombies.
Lucy inspected the bomb for a while and then pressed what looked like a button.
"I think I just started it..."
"..."
She then continued to inspect it much to my disbelief, I don't know if it is my imagination, but I can hear something tickling!
"What are you waiting to throw it?!"
"What if it didn't start? that button could have been anything else, we can't waste-"
"Throw the dang thing, Lucy!" I yelled at her maniacally, this psycho is going to get us killed!
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