Curiosity gnawed at Tysone's mind as he leaned closer for inspection. His fingers cautiously prodded around the strange thing sticking onto the corpse's skin like a tick, trying to dislodge it.
It wouldn't budge. Not even the slightest.
'Huh.'
Next, he attempted to scrape it off. That only worked marginally better, creating minor cracks around the skin.
'Does this come with the mutant package?' His eyes narrowed as he studied the mysterious object. He used a pocket knife to peel back the infected's skin, revealing the flesh underneath.
But it proved fruitful, because beneath the blood and torn tissue was something embedded in its sternum.
'A gemstone?!'
Or at least, a rock. The closest thing to a stone that grew inside humans were kidney stones, but he'd never heard of a black kidney stone. After a little more digging, he popped the damn thing out.
As it dropped onto his palm, the obsidian black crystal shimmered lightly.
However, he couldn't marvel at this strange artifact for too long as he quickly stuffed it inside his pockets when Kohta called out for him.
"Tysone-san?"
He looked up to see Kohta standing beside the gate, holding onto his rifle protectively as he observed the surroundings cautiously. "Everyone else got on the bus already."
"Right." Tysone nodded. "Get back to the Hum-Vee. I'm coming."
"Got it." Kohta saluted before scuttling off—he was the only other passenger to that vehicle alongside Tysone, after all he needed the chubby marksman to clear a path for them.
He stole another glance at the obsidian gem in his pocket.
'I should examine this later.'
He dragged the huge zombie corpse out of the way and boarded the Hum-Vee. The rest of the group waved at him enthusiastically from within the bus as he passed by.
Kohta gave him a thumbs up from the rearview mirror. "All good to go." Then he held his trusty rifle and poked his head through the roof to take potshots at any zombies that threatened them.
"Alright." Tysone fired the engine, smirking at the purr of the car. "Time to go."
He shifted gears smoothly and sped down the street. Rika's hideout gradually disappeared as they drove away. Tysone avoided the highway since it was no doubt clogged with cars and wrecks everywhere. They traveled through mostly the streets instead.
They passed residential neighborhoods, shopping centers, warehouses, abandoned malls, all desolate reminders of what once was.
The worst was seeing a crashed plane jutting out from between a couple of buildings, half buried inside concrete walls and asphalt.
"It feels surreal... seeing how much the world changed in less than two days." Rei's voice came from the walkie talkie.
"Yes..." Saeko added grimly. "We cannot expect to stay hidden forever either. We need to find safety soon."
Tysone agreed wholeheartedly. "Right."
He continued to navigate around debris littering roads, avoiding areas where traffic seemed especially congested or crowded.
There was nothing but corpses and stray zombies to occupy the streets ahead, although fortunately, it never appeared worse than fifty shambling corpses at once.
In fact, the streets seemed emptier than usual; he'd thought, with how big the population was, the streets would've been filled to the brim with bodies. Instead only a trickle of undead occupied the road, with occasional large clusters spread about.
Perhaps this could've been attributed to the military intervention in major cities or the mass exodus of panicked civilians.
Regardless of the reason, it was an immense relief to travel along streets without worrying about mobs blocking their way every ten meters.
Kohta did his job well, blowing off their heads easily at moderate speeds.
Every once in a while, survivors would come out of their hiding spots and wave at the passing vehicles. The Hum-Vee, being a military car, attracted the most attention. "Do not stop for them." Tysone relayed through the comms. "No matter what."
It was brutal. Some begged for water or food, others simply pleaded for rescue. Ultimately they drove past.
"This is painful to watch, isn't it?" Shizuka suddenly commented.
Saya and Takashi sat beside her, looking uncomfortable.
"We have our own mission." Tysone reasoned. "Our goal lies elsewhere."
"And saving these people will endanger us unnecessarily. I'm sure you understand that, Sensei." Saya explained as kindly as she could muster, given the situation.
Their bus soon passed an intersection teeming with activity.
Many survivors had barricaded themselves within nearby stores and establishments. Tysone's most pressing concern was the gangs, though. He had little doubt that some of the survivors rallied under a banner of survival of the fittest and formed into violent factions, raiding weaker groups for resources or anything else they deemed valuable.
These people would sooner shoot at them rather than let them pass unchallenged.
In fact, when they crossed another intersection, Tysone saw some punks armed to the teeth glaring daggers at their direction.
"Geez." Takashi's face turned dark. "Things are even more chaotic here."
Saeko concurred. "There's probably several small settlements fighting over territories."
Takashi furrowed his brow worriedly as he watched a group of men march across an intersection several blocks ahead carrying anything from bats, to knives, to chains. "Stop there!" One of the them said, presumbly the leader with how much he was strutting despite being confronted with an armored vehicle. However, unlike his underlings, he wielded a gun. He pointed it straight at the Hum-Vee. "You shall not pass—"
And then a hole punctured his skull before his brain caught up to the threat before him. And down he went.
"Nice shot." Tysone whistled. "Fucking degenerates, all of them."
"I guess you could say they're even worse than zombies." Kohta snorted, his grin wide.
The death of that punk was just like the death of that one pretester on TV. Take down the leader, and the rest of the mob falls apart. The gang, now without its leader, immediately made way for the passing convoys.
The rest of the journey didn't see much action. Every now and then, they were stopped by desperate souls who asked them for help and mercy. Most of them were met with apologetic gazes, while a select few found themselves at the barrel end of Kohta's sniper. The zombies were hardly an obstacle and more of an annoyance.
And just like that, the convoys made it out of the city without any major issues.
...
As their ride continued down winding country lanes, the rural landscape stretched out ahead of them—a sea of fields, hills, scattered farmsteads.
Knowing how much the worldwide population had whittled down these past few days, being out there like that almost felt like they were the only ones alive in this whole world.
'The house hasn't changed a bit.' Tysone's gaze was drawn towards the mansion looming just beyond the horizon. Then again, it was a bit out of the way. He spent quite a bit on it and was proud of what it had become. He'd have liked to install turrets along the fence, but unfortunately that was way outside of his budget, and also the law, likely.
Whatever.
It was still a sturdy fortress. "Guys." Tysone called out through the radio. "We arrived."
Rei squinted at the incoming property. "... Is this where you live? Isn't it a bit... fancy?"
Saya's proud voice came from the walkie-talkie. "Tysone and I established quite the lucrative business. This much is expected."
"What does he even do?" Marin questioned incredulously. "Must be something big if he can afford to buy a house as big as this."
"Nothing worth mentioning." Tysone interrupted.
"That's fine." Marin shrugged. "I'll find out sooner or later."
Tysone parked the Hum-Vee outside the gates before he hopped off the vehicle to unlock the gates. Once done so, he motioned for Shizuka to drive the bus inside. He then jogged back to the Hum-Vee and followed behind her—he made sure to firmly close the gates afterwards.
Everyone stepped out of the vehicles and marveled at the beauty of nature, with lush green trees stretching off into the distance. A sense of awe washed over them as they admired its serene beauty. Out there, they wouldn't have to worry about zombies mobbing around the house.
Takashi grinned broadly as he surveyed their new home base. "This is awesome!"
Rei nodded excitedly next to him. "Agreed."
Alice's grip on Zeke loosened, allowing the white mutt to run freely around the vast yard. Her face lit up in delight at the sight. "Wow!"
Tysone motioned for them to follow him. "Let's head inside. We have a lot of unpacking to do."
The group unloaded all their supplies, carried everything into the mansion. Food wouldn't be a problem for a long while since Tysone had stocked up plenty before all hell broke loose.
Once that task was finished, they settled into the main hall.
Tysone checked the lights to make sure they worked fine—he breathed out a sigh of relief when it did. "Guys… this will be our main base for the foreseeable future. Don't worry and make yourself at home."
Author's Note:
If you're enjoying the story and want to read ahead or support my work, you can check out my P@treon at P@treon.com/LordCampione. But don't worry—all chapters will eventually be public. Just being here and reading means the world to me. Thank you for your time and support.