25th Episode: The Collapse of Kirioka Agricultural High School

One year before civilization collapsed, the world was filled with various forms of entertainment.

The students at Kirioka Agricultural High School also brought various forms of entertainment into the dormitory.

Television sets, game consoles, smartphones, notebook computers, music players, e-book readers, manga, card games, board games, and so on.

Now, external power supply has ceased, but electronic devices with solar chargers can still be charged, and light sources are secured.

There were always those who stayed up late, but the agricultural high school started early in the morning, so even they were asleep by two in the morning.

Only one student, light in sleep, noticed the noise from outside.

The impossibility of a vehicle arriving in front of the dormitory—clearly anomalous. Weary from battle with sleep, he finally awakened to the abnormal light seeping through the window.

"That’s not possible."

The group trading with Kirioka Agricultural High School still had people capable of operating vehicles, even with fuel supplies cut off.

But shining strong light at midnight might attract zombies from a distance.

Who would do such a foolish thing?

He, in the second-floor room, struggled against sleep, turned on his flashlight, sat up, and pulled the curtain aside.

Beyond the window, the headlights of a truck glared.

Two trucks. Both emitting massive beams, illuminating the boys' dormitory.

Behind them, ordinary automobiles stood, their high beams shining onto the truck beds.

From the trucks, multiple figures crawled out. Their movements were the distinctive ones seen repeatedly on news broadcasts.

"Zombies! Zombies!"

Driven by fear, he shouted, throwing open the window.

The dormitory was built like an apartment. To warn others by knocking on doors, one had to go outside.

The dorm windows faced the zombies. Shouting would draw their attention.

But they were already spotted. There was no choice but to shout to warn the sleeping residents.

"Zombies! Zombies! Zombies!"

The shout was answered by a thud from the next room.

Then, from another room, the clatter of windows opening echoed.

A flurry of noise spread through the entire dorm.

"Why now?"

Someone shouted from a window.

The origin of the zombies was clear: two trucks, zombies emerging from them, cars fleeing—there was no ambiguity.

A Zombie had been brought in and released into the boys' dormitory.

Thus "why now?" became not a question about the presence of Zombies, but a cry over why they had been released.

Yet imagining the scenario was not difficult.

Among the partners trading with Kirioka Agricultural High School were those using trucks.

The partners transported construction materials into the school, while Kirioka Agricultural High School provided agricultural products. That scene had been witnessed many times before. There was a likely candidate for who might have carried out such an action.

With the large quantity of construction materials delivered, a high barricade had been built around the school.

And now, with the agricultural production system strengthened, this situation had arisen.

"Damn it!"

Zombies were already pressing against the ground-floor windows.

The windows were made of plain glass. If a human struck them with full force, without fear of injury, a body blow might break them.

Even if the window itself did not break, the frame could still detach, causing the entire window to fall.

He froze, staring at the sight below—zombies clinging to the ground-floor windows.

Zombies pounded the glass repeatedly.

Eventually, the zombies, unafraid of damage, broke one of the panes.

"Ahhhh!"

A scream echoed from the room directly below.

The horde did not focus solely on one window.

Half moved toward the two windows of the boys' dormitory; the other half pursued the vehicle.

The vehicle headed toward the girls' dormitory, which stood nearby.

"Shit, shit, shit, shit!"

From outside, the second-floor windows were unreachable.

But the dormitory doors were wooden. Breaking them by hand would be difficult, yet tools for farming—shovels, spades, hoes—were stored against the wall, left there from the expanded garden.

A zombie could still use them after one or two months.

It was currently February, and decay was slow.

He thought he must secure the door, and looked at the bookshelf on the wall.

But the bookshelf and the bed were secured with metal brackets for seismic reinforcement.

He scanned the room for anything else when, suddenly, the door began to bang.

◇◇◇◇◇◇

Natsuki woke at the sound of a window opening in the adjacent room.

A rattling noise echoed, and the faint sound of someone landing on the small balcony on the second floor or higher reached her ears.

She turned over in the lower bunk, puzzled by what was happening.

Students had not jumped from the second floor out of despair toward zombies before.

But jumping from the second floor would only result in broken bones and pain.

Since her parents' disappearance, Natsuki had no sense of belonging to the school.

She did not intend to stop it, but she thought it unpleasant to have it happen in the adjacent room. A car roared past outside the dormitory.

"Huh?"

Natsuki spoke without understanding, her voice flat.

Kirioka Agricultural High School had vehicles driven by teachers, but no gasoline remained to operate them.

After being used for transporting materials to build barricades and for construction work, the vehicles had stopped functioning due to fuel shortage.

Now they served as observation platforms, placed at various points along the barricades, allowing those inside to watch the outside.

Thus, if a car had passed, it was understandable that someone in the adjacent room would go out to check. She silently apologized to herself for her self-serving speculation.

A faint light seeped through the window, as if a flashlight had been turned on the adjacent balcony.

After the flashlight’s beam passed back and forth, a scream rose.

“Kyaaaaa!”

A high-pitched scream echoed from the balcony of the adjacent room.

Natsuki picked up the flashlight she had set down, crawled from the bed.

Staggered to her feet, slowly regaining awareness, she drew the curtain.

Then opened the balcony window, and assessed the worst-case scenario.

“Kyaaaaa, kyaaaaa!”

She wanted to tell Anna in the next room to stop screaming and say what had happened.

But seeing dozens of zombies approaching through the dim light cast by the flashlight, she could not deny the inevitability of the scream.

The neighbor’s scream, released in terror, now served as a beacon guiding the zombies.

Natsuki hurriedly shut the window of her room, locked it, and turned around.

"Anna, wake up!"

The window lock had not been engaged, as Hayato might arrive.

She quickly secured the window, then rushed to the two-tier bed and shook Anna's body.

"...Natsuki, what is it?"

Anna stirred slowly, her eyes opening. Natsuki spoke urgently.

"Zombies are inside. Dozens of them. They're at the dormitory entrance. Wake up, quickly."

"Liar."

"No, it's true. Hurry."

"Liar, it's a lie."

A voice on the verge of tears rose, but Natsuki climbed the ladder of the two-tier bed and shone the flashlight directly into Anna's eyes, forcing her awake.

"Stop, I'm waking up."

"Quickly."

After descending the ladder, Natsuki ran to the door and checked the lock.

Both the bolt and the chain were secured.

Fleeing outside now is a poor choice.

All school buildings are locked, secured to prevent entry.

The barricade cannot be crossed, and even if it were, there is no place to go.

Running through the field within the grounds would only result in capture soon.

A few zombies might be handled by the male teacher and male students, but how to deal with that number is unclear.

"Yui, move the desk to the front door—help me."

"Okay, got it."

The zombies did not walk slowly.

The first-floor windows were already being hammered hard—bang, bang—and the sound confirmed they had reached the dormitory.

"Take this side."

Natsuki took one end of the desk, and Yui took the other.

Small and still half-awake, Yui lacked strength.

Still, together they dragged the desk across the floor to the entrance.

Position the desk against the door, adjusting it to catch on the step between the room and the hallway.

"Putting the second one in place."

Two desks would be sturdier than one.

Natsuki gave the command. Mio followed without protest.

The noise from the girls' dormitory grew louder.

From several rooms, the sound of glass shattering echoed.

"Zombie capable of using tools."

"Stop it, please."

Zombies that had not been transformed long still retained the ability to use tools.

And throughout the Kirioka Agricultural High School grounds, farming tools were scattered everywhere.

As the two women reached for the second desk, a heavy thud sounded from the balcony of Natsuki's room.

"No way."

"I don't want that."

Natsuki had imagined the presence of a ladder used for picking fruit.

It was precisely because zombies were this intelligent that humanity had lost.

While hesitating, one zombie climbed the ladder.

The flashlight from Mio illuminated the zombie stepping onto the balcony.

The zombie, certain a person was present, lunged forward—kicking the ladder down—then tumbled onto the balcony.

It raised the shovel in its hand.

"Ah, can't do anything..."

Before Natsuki’s eyes, the raised shovel swung down toward the window.

A loud crack echoed. Cracks spread across the glass.

Raised again. Swung down. The cracks widened.

Natsuki could think of no way to stop it.

The sound of blows continued. Then, a sharp crash.

"Screech!"

Mio screamed. The zombie leaped toward her, as if delighted.

Grabbed, overturned, pushed down by momentum.

"Let go, let go, let go!"

"Guaaaaaaah!"

The zombie's mouth opened wide, biting into Natsuki.

Natsuki screamed in pain, but the large male zombie held on, rolling with her, trying to inject as much zombie virus as possible.

Suddenly, Natsuki's eyes caught sight of the shovel that had broken the window glass.

Natsuki darted forward, seized the shovel.

She brought it down on the zombie's head, which was pressing over Natsuki.

A sharp crack echoed, and a strong vibration ran through Natsuki's slender arm.

But perhaps hesitating at the sight of a human head, the zombie did not fall.

The zombie turned toward Natsuki, recognizing her as the next target.

"Ku—"

Natsuki clenched her teeth and swung the shovel with full force.

Despite the heavy impact, the zombie did not fall.

She struck again. The zombie grabbed her ankle and bit down.

Natsuki endured the dull pain in her foot and swung the shovel harder.

The zombie finally collapsed.